Terminal 3.... The Eurovision Blog

4 Months Since Dusseldorf

2011-09-18T23:08:00.004+01:00

Is it really just over 4 months since we were all either glued to the tv watching the Eurovision Song Contest or, as in my case, in the arena.

What a fantastic experience it was and for me probably the best contest I have been to since 2007 which was my first one and even now still holds a very special place in my heart and always will.

In Helsinki I met my fellow blogger Colin who is one of my closest friends and in Dusseldorf I met so many new friends that I know will be lifelong friends and I am looking forward to seeing them all at the OGAE UK Eurobash in a couple of weeks.

Now going back to Dusseldorf!!!

The highlights for me were Italy coming second and for a short time I seriously thought we were going to Rome next year........ however, Baku it will be.

Not my favourite winner and I certainly didnt see it winning! However they have ploughed so much money into winning it, it was likely to happen!!

My winner was of course Italy............ jazz and blues have never been my favourite genre of music but this song just blew me away from the first moment I heard it. He did not disappoint on the night either and was by far and away for me the best singer of the contest with Nadine Beiler from Austria who's haunting ballad was just beautiful. I was so please that she reached the final but very disappointed that her song didnt reach the Top 5.

Blue were ok!!! I loved the song but there was something missing in their performance.

Now regarding the semi finals. I have to say that as much as I loved Israel, Norway, Turkey and Poland I was not suprised that they failed to qualify......... Poland however I was more upset for than the rest.

Malta for me was the biggest suprise not to qualify as his performance in the semi final was awesome and yes I was there waving the Maltese flag for Glen Vella.

There are 2 songs which have grown on me loads since the contest........... Russia and Georgia. I hated Georgia before the contest and wasn't that enthralled to see them qualify but now I absolutely love it.

Now sand art is not something I would rave about but the Ukrainian song reduced me to tears in the arena and the reason was the interpretation of the sand art with the song which was so moving.

One of the biggest memories of the final night was whilst the votes were being cast and told that the rumour was that Italy had won the jury vote and that this would let the UK in to win...................... this did not seem impossible following the huge reaction the Blue boys got, however, of course we now know differently. But wasnt it lovely to see the United Kingdom at the top of the scoreboard for at least 1 round of voting.

Sweden had a fabulous contest even though there was problems during the rehearshals.

And wasn't it lovely to see Switzerland in the final......... Anna Rosselini did a fantastic job and did not deserve the last place by a long way.

Now onto Baku................ lots of rumours already.......... Steps or Joe McElderry for the UK. Ultra Nate have applied for Switzerland, Hari Mata Hari is apparently going for Bosnia again........ but we shall see over the next few months.

A familiar face for Bosnia & Herzegovina in 2012?

2011-08-30T23:10:00.000+01:00

Some good rumours coming out of Bosnia & Herzegovina at the moment. Apparently, the 2006 entrant Hari Mata Hari who finished in 3rd place with Lejla has been approached to return to Eurovision in 2012. There is no news at the moment as to whether he will take up the offer, but it can only be good news for Eurovision if he does considering the quality of his 2006 song.

I for one will be following developments closely on this one and will update you as and when there is further news. Until then, you can watch his 2006 entry via the link below......

Some Eurovision loyalty!

2011-08-30T22:50:00.000+01:00

Loyalty is a something rarely seen in the music business these days, especially when Eurovision is in the mix. However, it's good to see that Lena Meyer-Landrut has not turned her back on Eurovision after winning in 2010!

Not only did she return to defend her title, she now wants to help Germany select next year's entry and hasn't ruled out being in Baku next year herself. Sorry to all fans though, she wants to be a tourist next year... not a participant! :-(

Change in voting

2011-07-07T09:38:00.000+01:00

After receiving Terminal 3's open letter requesting a change in the televoting system, the EBU accepted our argument and have changed the televoting so that you can only vote after all performances have been completed. They have given an excuse that they looked at the trends in voting and it showed that most people voted after the performances.

But we all know the proper reason don't we!!! LOL

3 weeks have passed........... nearly

2011-05-31T23:12:00.005+01:00

I still cannot believe that I was in the arena 3 weeks ago today as the first semi final had finished and a group of us were heading for The Monkey Club to party the night away!!!!

What a semi final that was............ Poland getting last place, Norway, Turkey and Armenia not qualifying.............. though to be honest I am not suprised and no matter how many people say there was technical problems that night I still think the best 10 songs went through and even Georgia has started to grow on me since the show.

My biggest suprise from the week was how badly some of the pre contest favourites did............. UK, France, Estonia and Hungary to name a few.

My personal favourite was Italy and I was overjoyed that Raphael Gualazzi took them to that coveted 2nd place, even though I was convinced that with 3 votes to go Italy were gonna pip Azerbaijan to the post.

I did say (though not on here) that Azerbaijan would be Top 5, but honestly never saw it as the winner........... I think they have sent stronger songs in the past 2 years. I even said that if they could not win with Safura then they would not win with this!!!! How wrong was I???

The fabulous Dana International never even made the final from Semi Final 2 and had she had a stronger song would have taken the Kate Ryan award for this year but that does unfortunately go to Stella from Norway. However she is the only former winner to take part in the past few years that has not gone through to the final.

Maybe the biggest thing for the UK fans was for the first time in years at the end of a set of votes was to see the United Kingdom sitting top of the leader board albeit briefly, but it was a wonderful site to behold for a few minutes.

So Baku next year and another fantastic show will be had, but where? There is talk of several places but we will know soon enough!!!

Countries already planning for next year....

2011-05-29T20:56:00.001+01:00

So two weeks have passed since this year's contest and we can already start looking forward to next year.

Switzerland are the first to confirm entry to next year's contest, quickly followed unofficially by Finland who have announced that they are changing the selection process for next year's contest.

Israel's participation is in doubt as the preliminary dates for next year clash with a religious holiday in Israel. They appear to have asked for the contest to be moved to a different week to allow them to participate, but whether this request will be accepted is still to be seen.

Azerbaijan have also started planning for the contest and have arranged a group of influential people to organise it. It appears that Baku will be the host and at present, there are three possible sites for the contest. One of the options being to build a whole new venue. It is believed that more details will be available after a meeting on 20th June.

Open letter to the EBU

2011-05-20T15:23:00.000+01:00

Dear Mr. Sand,

For many years, the Eurovision Song Contest has entertained millions upon millions of viewers across Europe and now the world. Bringing European countries together to celebrate European music is no mean feat, but year upon year, you manage to put out a show to enthral us.

Criticism over "political" or "neighbourly" voting increased year upon year as more and more Eastern European countries joined the contest on the break up of their countries. Eurovision became synonymous with bad voting influencing the result and many countries criticised you for it. I, myself, feel that Eurovision wouldn't be the same without some of the "neighbourly" voting and have grown up to love the voting and the show.

However, to the EBU's credit, you then decided to tackle it and changed the voting system in the semi-finals and introduced 50% professional jury votes for all. These changes were welcome and people started believing in Eurovision again.

However, in a step I can only see as being a money making scheme, for the last two years, you have decided to open the voting at the start of the shows. Why? Shouldn't we not be voting for a good song and good performance? How can that happen if people are allowed to vote before all the songs have been performed?
By allowing this, you are allowing people to vote for the countries they like, regardless of their song or performance and this is WRONG!

Please turn the Eurovision Song Contest back into what it was intended to be.... A SONG CONTEST!

Thank you,

Colin Acton

So what now for the UK?

2011-05-18T22:39:00.001+01:00

Eurovision in the United Kingdom has a love/hate relationship with the general public. Speak to many people about the subject, and after they have joked about it they will admit to never missing it. Eurovision has been the butt of jokes for many years in the UK and was probably fuelled by Sir Terry Wogan, who's commentary of the show for the BBC was always full of ridicule.

It also hasn't helped that the big music artists of the UK won't go anywhere near Eurovision. Partly because they don't need to for success and also because failure could mean the end of their careers. Recently, the UK entrants have been a group of nobodies who have quickly disappeared once their participation was over.

What changed for this year? Well I think it was down to Germany's success last year. For many years, Germany had been down in the lower reaches of the final placings chart just like the UK. They entered a good song and wow, they won! Could this signal that the tide was changing in Eurovision?

So this year, the BBC went for the win! But it was not only the class of entrant that they changed. Gone was Paddy O'Connell and Sarah Cawood from the semi-final broadcasts and in came BBC Radio 1 D.J.'s Scott Mills and Sara Cox. Then, rather than holding the usual recent pre-selection show, they went out and got Blue involved. Things looking up? Certainly seemed so.

Now before I go onto the next part, let me say that even though I'm from the UK and yes I have some bias towards the UK, if the song is poor, I will say it's poor. In recent years, I think we've deserved all that we got! So please don't think that the next part is just sour grapes, it isn't.

Once I got the official CD, I started listening to the songs. Standing out for me at the time was Azerbaijan from the start, but the more and more I listened to the songs, the more I began to realise that the UK's song was really strong and stood out over the others. Would we finally have a chance of a very good finish? Or even win?

The problem obviously with listening to the songs on the CD, is that some songs don't translate well from the CD to the stage. Either through staging problems or due to the only "live" singing allowed. After watching both semi-finals, there didn't seem to be anyone who was giving a totally solid performance and staging problems seemed rife! Confidence growing!

So onto the night of the final, Blue give a good performance, but are hit by some staging problems as sometimes, a few of them were singing and you could hardly hear them. Also, Lee Ryan seemed to be struggling a bit with the high notes, but not too much. However, it still stood out.

Then the bombshell! Political voting back with a vengeance!!!!! From being in front after two juries, Blue then struggled to pick up votes and ended up in 11th with 100 points. Now if you compare that to previous recent finishes, you would think that's good. However, when you look at some of the songs that finished above them, you can only shake your head! They did the UK proud, but you can only feel sorry for them!

So how will the UK react to this? I think that it will be a long time before we see another big name/group in Eurovision for the UK, if ever. If we can't get close to a win with probably the best song in the contest, then I don't think the UK will ever win again.

So sadly, I think that the UK will go back to unknowns with very little chance of winning again! No point in putting any quality into the contest if it's not recognised.

Azerbaijan's final performance

2011-05-15T10:51:00.003+01:00

Congratulations to Azerbaijan

2011-05-15T10:42:00.000+01:00

Well it's the day after Eurovision day! Eurovision 2011 is in the history books and it's time to look back at the contest and look forward to next year. I suppose today is the day that every Eurovision fan dreads..... the hangover from yesterday and it's the longest point until next years contest! Hee Hee

I have to say that I really enjoyed last night show and I think it was one of the strongest finals in recent years. This was obviously reflected in the scoring, which was very close up until the last few juries.

So lets start off with talking about the presentation of the show.... As far as I'm concerned, the German's didn't really do a good job of presentation. There was a lot of "padding out" of the show which it really didn't need. The comic punch reappeared from the semi-final even though it looked stupid in the semi. I also think that Anke and Stefan were trying to hog the limelight a bit too much and left Judith out. After all, three is a crowd!

A lot of the sound problems that dogged the semi-finals appeared to have gone, but there was still a few countries that had problems. One of those was the UK, who at points of the song were singing, but you could barely hear what they were singing. It was also the first time in recent years that the start of a song was delayed due to problems.

The biggest disappointment of the night for me was the interval act. Usually, the host country puts on a show to showcase their national identity. Germany put on a singer Jan Delay, who apparently is quite well known in German speaking countries. It was drab! I was so glad when it was over.

Now on to my favourites on the night.....

It was a strong start to the night with Finland. I think that they suffered from being the opening song, but was still a really nice song.

How did Hungary finish so low?! This was the biggest surprise of the contest for me. After Kati's performance, I really did think that she would be a top 5 finisher.

Ireland's overall performance was ok and they got a good top 10 finish. I think they would have got higher they would have sorted out the issues with the female backing singers taking over the song at points.

Probably my favourite song/performance on the night was Lena's for Germany. I just don't think it was suited enough for Eurovision. It was a solid performance and a great cool song. A top 10 finish was still a good result for them.

A standout song on the CD, Azerbaijan disappointed me in the semi-final with a below par performance. I'm afraid their performance in the final wasn't the best either, but voters saw past their performance and voted for them. The song deserved it's winning position, so well done to Azerbaijan.

Another country that will be licking their wounds today will be Estonia. A really nice and light song with a good performance certainly didn't deserve the position they ended up in.

To finish, I'd just like to congratulate all performers in this year's contest, finalists and semi-finalists who didn't qualify for making this year such a good one. Well done!

Baku 2012 it is then!!!!!! :-)

The voting went well this year

Semi-final two tonight

2011-05-12T15:41:00.000+01:00

Tonight it's...... JEDWARD!!!!!

Yes tonight the rest of Europe will be introduced to Jedward.

Twins John and Edward, born in Dublin, Ireland first came to the public's attention when they took part in the 2009 British tv show "The X Factor". The British public had a love/hate relationship with them, but they still managed to finish sixth that year.

Since that time, they have been dropped by Sony after just one single release which got to no.2 in the UK and no.1 in Ireland. After being signed up by Universal Records, they have gone on to get a no.1 album in Ireland (no. 17 in UK) and are now representing their own country Ireland this year.

The twins are a high energy act and put a lot into their performance. The song is very catchy and I think it will do really well. Being one who didn't like Jedward when they were on the X Factor, I did question the Irish thinking when they picked them, but I think their gamble may pay off with qualification to the final and a good result on Saturday. Whether it will win I suppose depends on how the rest of Europe takes to them.

I for one though will be cheering them on tonight.

GO JEDWARD!!!!!!!!

Semi final one thoughts....

2011-05-10T23:08:00.001+01:00

Well, semi final one is now history and it's nearly time for bed, but before I go to bed I thought I would pass on my initial thoughts on the show.

Overall, I think the performances were poor. There was a lot of nervous performances which affected the singers' voices. Biggest disappointment for me was the performance of Azerbaijan, who going into the semi tonight was my favourite song. They will have to perform better if they want to be in with a shout on Saturday as their song certainly deserves a top 5 finish.

As for who has qualified, I don't think there were really any surprises. The songs that qualified either gave a good performance, had a good song or would have been expecting to qualify through "friendly" voting. I didn't expect the Swiss to qualify and I didn't expect Turkey not to get through on the "friendly" voting at least. The worst song qualifying for me tonight was Greece.

Finally, the stage and backgrounds looked fantastic! More from me tomorrow! Night.

One hour to go......

2011-05-10T18:57:00.000+01:00

So it's one hour until this years contest starts.... Semi final one is on it's way at 20:00hrs!!!

Really looking forward to getting it started! Score sheets have been printed and the phone is ready to be taken off the hook.

I'm particularly looking forward to watching my two favourites for this semi from the CD, Azerbaijan and Hungary. Hopefully, they will be as good on stage.

During the show, I'll be tweeting via the Terminal 3 twitter account, which you can access at http://twitter.com/#!/T3Eurovision.

If you want to join in a conversation, please feel free to send mentions via @T3Eurovision.

Hope you all enjoy the show! Let us know what you thought after the show via our comments system!

Semi Final 2 - My Qualifiers

2011-05-06T22:51:00.003+01:00

Well, it has been a fab few days in Dusseldorf............. well it has according to the other blogs and facebook updates and photos and videos and websites. Again, as I did the other day I would like to thank them for keeping me up to date on the rehearsals. Now for me Semi 1 was an easy mission to choose 10 to go through. However, Semi Final 2 is a little bit harder.

Based upon the rehearsals I have seen online my 10 going through are (in no particular order):-

Austria - a fabulous song and for me the best ballad in the contest......... very much in the vain of Mariah Carey
Bosnia & Herzegovina - A classic song with a very catchy chorus and Dino comes across as such a gentleman
Bulgaria - Soft Rock at its best......... even though I have no idea what she is singing. I believe this is the best of this genre in this years contest
Ireland - the wonderful Jedward, who just seem to be bringing a little something extra to this years contest. Not sure its an overall winner but would be a welcome addition to the Top 10 on Final night.
Estonia - 1,2,7,3 down at Rockefeller Street............ well if Rockefeller Street is that much fun then bring it on. A fantastic dance song and will be danced to by myself several times in Dusseldorf
Denmark - Lovely.... another country who seems to have sent some timeless classics over the past few years
Latvia - I dont know why I think this song is appealing, I just do
Romania - Now for me this could be the dark horse
Sweden - Some appalling problems on stage during rehearsals but hopefully all will come together on the night
Israel - It just has so much going for it ........... a simple chorus, instantly memorable and sung by the one the only Dana International

Well thats it, my 10 from Semi 2

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2011 PREVIEW - SEMI FINAL TWO

2011-05-06T21:57:00.000+01:00

Bosnia & Herzegovina - A nice catchy tune to start this semi-final. A strong beat and loads of support from the music track. Background vocals compliment the lead vocals well. A good song performed well. May suffer from performing first. 7/10

Austria - A strong vocalist and a strong ballad if her voice holds up with the nerves. 6/10

The Netherlands - I think this song is more of an album filler rather than an attention grabber. Doesn't hold my attention enough and an early position could spell doom for The Netherlands yet again. 4/10

Belgium - Thought I was listening to Latvia's Cosmos from 2006 again! They didn't do well and neither will Belgium! 2/10

Slovakia - Nice song, similar in style to the American trio Wilson Phillips. As I like Wilson Phillips, I also like this song. 6/10

Ukraine - For me, Ukraine have sent really interesting songs for the last five years. Unfortunately, this year, I don't like it as much. Seems to be trying to shout to be heard over the music. 4/10

Moldova - Oh dear Moldova! Enough said! 1/10

Sweden - Ok, Boney M's Rasputin drumbeat to start, followed by something sounding like it's out of X-files. Good disco track. 8/10

Cyprus - Is going to suffer big time for following Sweden. Could be the space for my planned toilet break! Didn't capture my attention sorry. 3/10

Bulgaria - Like the tune. The changes in the tune keeps you interested, but will it stand out enough? I think it's an outsider for the final. 6/10

FYR Macedonia - Really interesting intro. Unfortunately, it's downhill as soon as they start singing. 3/10

Israel - Dana International returns to Eurovision. Hope they've padded the stage just in she repeats her fall! A light pop tune turns into an anthemic tune. I didn't like it to start with, but it's growing on me. Just think Dana's voice just doesn't suit the song in parts of the song. 7/10

Slovenia - Have had to listen to this song a few times to give an opinion on it. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I don't and I just can't put my finger on why. Due to this, I think it may suffer. 5/10

Romania - Good catchy tune - another foot tapper. Could do with quietening the big beat a bit as sometimes it takes the attention away from the song. 7/10

Estonia - Good song and one of the bookmakers favourites. Think success depends on the stage presentation of the song. 8/10

Belarus - When you look at the title "I love Belarus", it doesn't inspire you with confidence. The opening doesn't... that's until the chorus! That chorus is very good and could get the crowd on their feet. 7/10

Latvia - Coming to the end of a show, I think songs really have to stand out to grab your waining attention. I'm afraid the song didn't do enough for me to do that. 4/10

Denmark - I like this song. It's different enough to stand out. I just hope the stage performance doesn't let it down. 7/10

Ireland - Jedward is very well known in the UK after taking part in X-Factor. I hated them in X-Factor as they act like spoilt brats. When Ireland selected them, I couldn't believe it! But their song is really good. Just hope they act professional enough that they don't lose votes through their behaviour. 8/10

As I said I was disappointed with the quality of songs in semi 1. It's hard to describe semi 2's overall quality. Overall, I think semi 2 is the better one but it doesn't have some of the stand-out songs that semi 1 had.

Who will qualify? I will go with....
1. Sweden
2. Ireland
3. Estonia
4. Denmark
5. Belarus
6. Romania
7. Israel
8. Bosnia & Herzegovina
9. Slovakia
10. Austria

As always with Eurovision, upsetting the apple cart could be... Ukraine and Moldova. This could be at the expense of either Austria, Slovakia or Belarus.

Agree? Disagree? Let us know!

My Qualifiers from Semi Final1

2011-05-03T22:20:00.004+01:00

Well its been an interesting few days for me. My annual leave has started from my job but I wont arrive in Dusseldorf until next Tuesday 10th May following a brief trip to Brussels on the way. However I have been watching the rehearsals on the internet since Sunday and I would like to wish my friends and fellow bloggers that are in Dusseldorf a very big HELLO.

Anyway after watching the first sets of rehearsals from semi 1 in no particular order I believe the 10 going through............ not sure whether to write should be, would be, want to be or will be????!!!! Ok my 10 favourites whom I believe should go through are:-

Iceland
Finland
San Marino
Serbia
Switzerland
Azerbaijan
Russia
Poland
Norway
Turkey

However, I do think that with the voting that Greece, Armenia and Albania could sneak in.

And as I hear a cry from the audience.......... "No Hungary!!!!" Yes I know however as much as I do like the song and it is in my personal Top 10 favourites of this year I do believe she is going to be the Kate Ryan of the contest and following a very shambolic rehearsal it certainly would not suprise me in the least.

1 week today we will know the first 10 qualifers to the Eurovision Song Contest Final and am getting very excited by it all at the moment because in theory I do believe that this year could be the year that we get a suprise as there are a lot of good songs out there.

Terminal 3 goes Twitter.... it's official!

2011-05-03T16:25:00.000+01:00

Hi, Terminal 3 now has it's own Twitter profile. If you'd like to follow us there, here is our profile page.... http://twitter.com/#!/T3Eurovision

During Eurovision week, we'll be posting quick tweets there, so keep checking Twitter!

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2011 PREVIEW - SEMI FINAL ONE

2011-05-03T14:56:00.000+01:00

Hello and welcome to Terminal 3's preview of this year's contest which is rapidly approaching us! By now, hopefully most will have listened to the songs in some way or other. Well, here at Terminal 3, I've been doing the same and I've noted down my thoughts on the songs.

Let's start with Tuesday's Semi final one. Please remember that these are my own opinions on the songs, which can and probably will differ from other's views. I've rated them all out of 10 for you and then at the bottom, I state who I'd like to see go through to the final on the 15th May.

Poland – Pop beat. Singer has a good strong voice . Gets a bit repetitive by the end of the song. 4/10

Norway – I like it! First thing you have to do with this song is check the country it came from again, as Norway isn’t one I’d expect. Nice African tones to the song which makes it a pleasant song to listen to. However whether it’s a song to go far in Eurovision – I doubt it, but could make the final. I hope so anyway. 7/10

Albania – Powerful female vocals, but the song doesn’t seem to have the finishing polish that others have. 3/10

Armenia – Seems like a bit of a childish song to me... “I’m in love wi’ch you”?! Oh please! Sorry but the only way this will qualify is if they ride the friendly voting wave. 2/10

Turkey – Rock again from Turkey. However, it doesn't have a proper rock feel to me. Poor. 4/10

Serbia – Sounds like a retro song. Tame song which won’t go far...hopefully! 3/10

Russia – Too long to get into the song properly. He doesn’t start singing until 37 seconds into the song. It’s a bit of a shame as once he does it’s a good song. 7/10

Switzerland – I would describe this as a pretty little song. Sweet and harmless, stage presentation will make or break, but I think a bit too tame to stand out enough. 6/10

Georgia – Songs with rappers don’t usually do well in Eurovision – ask Ich Troje! Sorry don’t like it. 4/10

Finland – An interesting voice and it will be interesting to see how he pulls it off on stage. It’s a shame that there isn’t a change in tempo somewhere in the song somewhere to get people out of their seats. Tom Dice showed last year that you can do well with just one person on stage, but his song got people clapping. This one won’t, but I would like to see it in the final. 6/10

Malta – Vella has been trying to represent Malta for a while now and he finally gets his chance. Not a bad song and probably middle of the bunch. 6/10

San Marino – I quite like this song. It’s quite a strong song and well presented. 7/10

Croatia – Quickening of the tempo after the slow song before it. Could see this as a theme tune for a festival somewhere. 6/10

Iceland – Has a slight 70’s feel to it. Found myself singing along with it by the end! :-) Hope it gets through! 8/10

Hungary – One of my favourites of semi-final 1. Good foot-tapping beat and a strong contender for the final. 9/10

Portugal – Portugal seem to have lost their direction in Eurovision and continue to do so with this song. Sorry Portugal, but this is not good! 3/10

Lithuania – Has a musicals feel, maybe two years earlier and Andrew Lloyd Webber may have had use for it. Still a good song, but strong enough to get through? Don’t know, especially as it’s followed by a strong song. Could be swallowed up by Azerbaijan. 5/10

Azerbaijan – Definitely the best song in semi-final 1. It’s success will depend on it’s translation from studio to stage. 9/10

Greece – Greece goes traditional, but definitely not as good as last years. Couldn’t wait for it to end! 3/10

For me, semi-final 1 is a disappointing one song quality wise. I’m afraid it looks like some substandard songs will qualify through to the final which again is disappointing considering some of the past entries that some of the countries have provided.

For me, qualifiers are....

1. Azerbaijan

2. Hungary

3. Iceland

4. Norway

5. Russia

6. San Marino

7. Malta

8. Finland

9. Croatia

10. Switzerland

However, I expect Greece, Turkey, Serbia or Armenia to attract votes in spite of their song quality and could see any of these four qualifying instead of Malta, Finland, San Marino and Switzerland.

Agree with me? Disagree with me? Let me know! :-)

Sold out?! No it isn't!

2011-05-03T09:04:00.000+01:00

For months, we have been told that the final on the 14th May is sold out and no tickets are available. However, a visit to the official ticket site (http://www2.dticket.de/) shows a totally different story.

It seems that you can get tickets for any of the shows, so if you want to be in the crowd next week you certainly can.

I really can't understand why they are not advertising this to sell out properly!!

Starting tomorrow.....

2011-05-03T00:53:00.000+01:00

As from tomorrow, Terminal 3 will start previewing next week's contest.

Who will qualify from semi-final 1? 2? Will any of the big five win?

If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them! Get in touch and you're thoughts will be incorporated into the blog entries!

Fancy a bet?

2011-04-20T10:57:00.000+01:00

So with the official cd out, in the UK at least, have you started forming your favourite songs yet? Do you think that they have a chance to win?

To help you along, here is what a selection of British Bookies make of this year's contest......

Current favourite with all bookies is France. The best odds you can get for them is 4/1, which for the less familiar of us out there means that if you place a £1 bet, you will get your stake money back and £4. Most bookies however have them at either 9/2 or 7/2.

2nd favourite, again with all bookies is Estonia. Totesport and Boylesports will give you odds of 7/1 at the moment, with the worst odds being with Betfred at 11/2.

3rd favourite is the UK, but then British bookies always place the UK high. Best odds are with Boylesports and bwin.com who will offer you 10/1. Lowest is Coral who have the UK at 6/1.

4th favourite, but sometimes joint 3rd with the UK is Sweden. With odds ranging from 8/1 to 11/1, best odds are given by skybet and Boylesports.

The top 5 is completed by Hungary. With odds ranging from 8/1 to 14/1, best odds are given by totesport and bwin.com.

As for the rest, below is a list of the range of odds and where the best can be found....

Azerbaijan - Range 9/1 - 14/1. Best odds found at Boylesports and bwin.com
Germany - Range 10/1 - 14/1. Best odds found at Boylesports and Victor Chandler.
Bosnia and Herzegovina - Range 10/1 - 16/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Norway - Range 8/1 - 16/1. Best odds found at skybet.
Denmark - Range 14/1 - 25/1. Best odds found at sportingbet.
Russia - Range 14/1 - 28/1. Best odds found at Betfred.
Italy - Range 19/1 - 40/1. Best odds found at sportingbet, StanJames and bwin.com
Ireland - Range 20/1 - 40/1. Best odds found at Betfred and bwin.com
Turkey - Range 25/1 - 50/1. Best odds found at Boylesports and bwin.com
Slovenia - Range 33/1 - 50/1. Best odds found at bet365, Boylesports and Betfred.
Finland - Range 20/1 - 66/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Austria - Range 33/1 - 66/1. Best odds found at Boylesports, sportingbet, William Hill and Paddy Power.
Poland - Range 33/1 - 80/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Switzerland - Range 50/1 - 100/1. Best odds found at Betfred, sportingbet, Paddy Power, William Hill and StanJames.
Romania - Range 33/1 - 100/1. Best odds found at Boylesports and Betfred.
Israel - Range 40/1 - 100/1. Best odds found at Betfred, sportingbet and William Hill.
Georgia - Range 50/1 - 125/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Armenia - Range 40/1 - 125/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Ukraine - Range 40/1 - 125/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Moldova - Range 50/1 - 125/1. Best odds found at bet365 and Boylesports.
Greece - Range 40/1 - 150/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Latvia - Range 100/1 - 150/1. Best odds found at Boylesports, Betfred, bwin.com and William Hill.
Slovakia - Range 50/1 - 150/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Serbia - Range 40/1 - 199/1. Best odds found at Unibet.
Lithuania - Range 100/1 - 200/1. Best odds found at skybet, Boylesports, Paddy Power, StanJames and William Hill.
Iceland - Range 80/1 - 200/1. Best odds found at Boylesports, Betfred and William Hill.
The Netherlands - Range 80/1 - 200/1. Best odds found at Boylesports and Betfred.
Spain - Range - 100/1 - 200/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Croatia - Range 80/1 - 200/1. Best odds found at bet365 and Boylesports.
Bulgaria - Range 99/1 - 250/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Belarus - Range 80/1 - 250/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
San Marino - Range 150/1 - 250/1. Best odds found at Boylesports and sportingbet.
Albania - Range 80/1 - 250/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.
Belgium - Range 100/1 - 250/1. Best odds found at bet365 and Boylesports.
Cyprus - Range 66/1 - 300/1. Best odds found at skybet.
Malta - Range 66/1 - 300/1. Best odds found at Boylesports and Betfred.
Portugal - Range 125/1 - 400/1. Best odds found at extrabet.
FYR Macedonia - 125/1 - 500/1. Best odds found at Boylesports.

So as you can see, there's a wide range of odds out there if you fancy a bet. Just shop around.

Please note that this blog is not attached to any of the Bookies mentioned and this is the reason why I have provided no links to them. If you do decide to bet, please bet responsibly and only spend what you can afford. Above all, good luck!!

Welcome back!!! So what's happened since we last posted?

2011-04-19T12:15:00.000+01:00

Hello, and welcome back to all!

First off, let me apologise on behalf of both Paul and I for not posting for a year! A few reasons caused the hiatus, but we are now back energised and ready for this year's contest!

Quite a lot has happened since we last posted!

The 2010 contest was an excellent one and it was refreshing to see a winner that bucked the trend of recent years in that a big four song won that hadn't qualified from the semi-final and also a "western Europe" country won. I think it was a stellar year for songs - so many good songs which I am still enjoying to this day!

My favourites in 2010 start with Tom Dice who represented Belgium. I just love the simplicity of the song with as the title suggests... just Tom and his guitar! It was also good to see him giving his all when singing the song. It was also good to see Niamh Kavanagh return to Eurovision, continuing the trend of past winners returning for another go. A bit of spice was also brought to the contest by Paula Seling & Ovi for Romania with their song "Playing with fire". Not only did we get lots of flames, we also saw a unique two faced seethrough piano!

I think in the end, the best song won and I think it was good for the contest as a whole. The big question for me is.... was Germany's win the deciding factor for Italy to rejoin? I suppose we'll never know, but they were always stating that they wouldn't return unless they had a realistic chance of winning. As Germany had suffered with very poor results prior to last year, I suppose their win in 2010 goes to show that any country can still win if you submit a good song!

I won't mention any more on Italy's return as I'm sure that Paul will want to post something on it as he's been obsessive about their return for years!! LOL

So, what do you think about last year's contest? Let us know!

19th April 2011........... Relaunch day!

2011-04-18T23:43:00.000+01:00

To all our followers!

Sorry we've neglected you for a year, but Terminal 3 will be back..... tomorrow!!!!!!

Previewing this year's contest and anything else you want us to cover!

The story so far.....2010 (as at 10/01/2010)

2010-01-10T17:01:00.006Z

Welcome back to our continuing watch on the national finals and the qualifiers for 2010!

This year, to add to the list, we will also provide a link to a download of the mp3 of the entrant if we can.

So here goes! The qualifiers for this years Eurovision as at 10th Jan 2010 are.....

Albania - Juliana Pasha - Nuk mundem pa ty [Download]
Switzerland - Michael von der Heide - Il pleut de l'or [Download]

Not a big list at the moment, but I'm sure it will pick up speed now!

2 known for definate

2010-01-10T00:08:00.002Z

Well thats it 2 songs known for definate now......... Switzerland and Albania and I have to say I quite like the Swiss song even though I am not sure it is a winner.

Bulgaria, Belgium and Israel have also announced male soloists but I cant say I'm suprised as none of them have won for a while if at all.

So with 4 males and a female who is the best so far............. well I have to say I prefer Switzerland to Albania!

It will be interesting to see over the next few weeks who gets the votes from various nations especially as there are some that seem to be going for the internal vote rather than the public...............

Is this the way the UK will go? I am not sure, the rumour is that Gary Barlow will be writing the song and that Duncan James will be doing something with it also........ Following the Norwegian 5th in 2008 and then a win in 2009 will it be the Uk's year to follow suit?

San Marino, Andorra and Montenegro have announced their withdrawal from 2010 due to financial contraints......but to some people I'm not sure this is a bad thing.

7 Months and 3 Days To Go!!!!!!!

2009-10-22T15:11:00.002+01:00

Well with 7 months and 3 days to go before the 54th Eurovision song contest in Oslo we have 28 definate attendees and 2 definate not going, 3 definate not returning and 2 possible not going........ How confusing does that sound???

Ok so those withdrawing from 2010 are:-

Czech Republic - apparently due to lack of interest from the viewers.
Hungary - due to financial problems within MTV the National Broadcaster.

2 Possibles in not going are:-

Estonia - due to financial troubles in ERR the National Broadcaster
Lithuania - due to financial troubles in LRT the National Broadcaster

Definately not returning:-

Austria - Still not convinced that the voting problems have been sorted
Monaco - No Money
Luxembourg - No Money

The 28 who have said yes are:-

Albania
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Israel
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Romania
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom

Possible returns could be in line for San Marino who withdrew in 2009.

Watch this space for more updates.

44 Years Ago Today

2009-03-20T22:39:00.002Z

Was the the night that France Gall won the 10th Eurovision Song Contest which was held in the RAI Concert Hall in Naples, Italy. This is one of the earliest contests that I have on DVD and I actually watched it a couple of nights ago. I have to say that for me it is not a classic contest and I like the winning song "Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son" but still think that Kathy Kirby and her song "I Belong" was actually better in a lot of ways on the night and was by far the most polished performance of the evening. However the night belonged to France Gall singing for Luxembourg and winning the contest for the tiny Duchy for the second time. Luxembourg won the contest by 6 points from United Kingdom which does not really seem a great deal but at the time it was a landslide victory and one that France Gall had held from the very first vote was cast by the Dutch Jury.

The Top 5 of 1965:-

1. Luxembourg - France Gall Singing Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son
2. United Kingdom - Kathy Kirby singing I Belong
3. France - Guy Mardel singing N'Avoue Jamais
4. Austria - Udo Jurgens singing Sag Ihr, Ich Lass Sie Grussen
5. Italy - Bobby Solo singing Se Piangi, Se Ridi

Second Semi Final - My Thoughts

2009-03-17T23:33:00.000Z

After listening to the first semi final for this years Eurovision Song Contest in the order of performance I thought that I had better do the same with the Second Semi Final, which with the countries involved you would think is the stronger of the 2, however I don’t think it is.

Croatia start the proceedings off with another haunting folky type ballad and I think it works, this is for me their best entry in several years. For me this is the second best entry from the former Yugoslav republics behind Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Next we move to Ireland and after a blooming great turkey of a song last year they seem to be back on track and have sent what I think is an absolute corker of a song and a very Kelly Clarkson sounding song, I am not sure this is an overall winner but definately think a spot in the final is on the cards for the most successful Eurovision country. However the downfall for Ireland is they are singing second!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Latvia come next and it reminds me slightly of Arnis Mendis and his 2001 entry, the only difference is I liked that one and I can’t warm to this song at all. Maybe it will get some Baltic votes.....well of course it will Lithuania and Estonia are both in this Semi Final too!!
For me song number 4 is one of the worst this year and after a couple of absolute corkers Serbia have hit rock bottom with this gimmick song, I cannot even see them qualifying for the Final.
The 5th song is the Polish ballad which to me just seems to get better and better every time I hear it. I loved Isis Gee in 2008 and felt that her song deserved to be a lot higher than joint last in the final, but I think this could do it.
The only downfall for the Polish singer is that they have to contend with the big favourite from Norway singing right after her. For the second year running Norway could actually be in the running for the top spot. Lots of fiddles and folky type music...again for me I cannot see why this song will not qualify!!
Cyprus one of the big under achievers in Eurovision sing 7th with quite a nice mid tempo ballad, unfortunately as much as I like this song I just cannot see it qualifying however I think a guaranteed 12 points from Greece may be on the cards!!!
Slovakia are back in the Eurovision family with their first entry in 11 years with a mid tempo ballad but somehow it just doesn’t work and if their live performance is anything to go by then they will be all over the place on the night.
However following the Slovakian entry we now go into a group of 7 songs which could all in theory qualify for the final. Starting with Denmark and a song written by Ronan Keating from Boyzone which is sung by a man who sounds like Ronan Keating too but its not!!!!
Slovenia have gone for something which I call Classical pop and something they have done before in 2007, a long instrumental leads to some powerful female vocals which could see a final spot on the horizon.
Hungary have gone for a total cheese fest with their entry and following 2 other singers who for one reason or another could not perform their respective songs could sneak into the final with this one, however I don’t think it will reach the heights of their 2007 entry.
The country to sing next is in my opinion the best entry this year from the former Soviet Republics and also a hot tip with the bookies......... Azerbaijan have sent a fantastic uptempo song with a big Latin influence and one that could appeal to the masses.
Another of the big favourites follows and that is Greece and you can’t under estimate the presence of their singer, not as good as 2004 entry but I am sure it will be in the final, especially with their 12 points from Cyprus!!
Lithuania have gone for a lovely ballad and in my opinion an under rated song and one that could do very well for the little country that doesn’t do very well.
Moldova have sent a dong which I hated to start with but the more I listen to it the more I love it and another that could suprise us on the night of the semi final!! Dancy, gimmicky and with a good performance could do well!
The first song confirmed for Moscow was from Albania, but unfortunately their is just no soul to this song for me...not nearly as good as last years entry and therefore Im not so sure it will be in the final.
Well Ukraine sing next and im sorry but after the past couple of years was expecting a lot more and have ended up being very disappointed, after finishing 2nd for the past 2 years I can’t even see them getting out of this semi final..... for me this is just abysmal.
Estonia sing last but one in this semi final with their best entry in years and I think will be the one to lift them out of the semi finals for the first time since they were introduced, another dark horse for the top spot of the grand final and in the same league as Slovenia but better.
Ending the 2nd semi final will be The Netherlands who over recent years have not done as well as they should have done, Grace, Edsilia and Hind unfortunately could not get them out of the semi final stage and Im sorry I just cannot see it happening here either.

So my 10 from here to the Final are:-

Norway, Ireland, Azerbaijan, Poland, Greece, Estonia, Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia

My opinion of First Semi Final!!!

2009-03-17T10:59:00.000Z

I thought that I would give a personal opinion of the draws for the semi finals and after listening to the songs in the order that they will be performed on Tuesday 12 May 2009 here is my opinion of the First Semi Final.

After starting the semi final in 2008 with quite a drab song in comparison Montenegro once again kick off the 1st Semi Final with an uptempo number which really gets you to sit up and take notice and really gives the 1st Semi Final a good kick up the backside to begin with.
Second to perform are Czech Republic with what could almost be called a gimmick song and I thought we might have got away from these this year, mind you I don’t think it is a bad one and the chorus is extremely catchy......... will the curse of number 2 strike the Czech’s this year.
Belgium sing third and with the rockabilly sound makes this the 3rd uptempo song in a row, not their best entry, but could it stand out as something different... we shall have to see!!
Belarus are 4th to perform and I just really don’t like this song at all, I really thought that after a couple of years of pretty decent songs Belarus would start ensuring a good chance every year of qualifying for the final, however this is just for me awful.
Sweden have given us Schlager Opera this year and it works well, singing 5th in this semi final I think stands them in good stead for qualification, however following the suprise that the Swedes only got to the final on a wildcard in 2008 then nothing is guaranteed.
Armenia follow the Swedes and again after 3 years of really good entries they are disappointing me this year, with a very good 4th place overall in 2008 I think they will be lucky to qualify with this their worst entry in 4 years.
Andorra just seem to be getting better and better at this competition and even though their first 5 attempts have seen them stay in the semi final they just are not giving up (unlike others we could mention!). As good as Anonymous from 2007 and 10 times better than last year this is probably their best chance at a final place on May 16th. A party tune from the party girl Susanna Georgi can deliver this well.
Ok, so the Swiss just keep sending brilliant songs that can’t get out of the semi finals either , but I think this is one of their better entries reminding me somewhat of New Order from the 1980’s and could sneak into that Saturday night final.
Well what can we say about Turkey? Up until there momentous victory in Riga they just never did anything, but they kept coming back for more and actually sent some pretty decent tunes, now since 2003 they have really upped their game and are now always a serious contender for a top 10 placing in the grand final, however I wonder this year whether this may get lost amongst all the uptempo songs in this particular semi final.... mind you with a big Turkish fan base heading for Moscow I cannot see that happening!!
Then its time to slow it down just a tad as Israel perform..... following the formidable success of Boaz Mauda in Belgrade the Israelis have once again gone for the mid tempo ballad and I think they could be one of the dark horses in this contest this year.
Bulgaria with their Jimmy Somerville soundalike sing in 11th position and I cant understand why they have chosen that placing as they got the wildcard to pick their spot...... maybe it’s a lucky number in Bulgaria, but is it going to be lucky enough I just am not sure. I love this song and with the revamped performance could suprise us all.
The sultry ballad from Iceland follows the uptempo one from Bulgaria and for a ballad I think it stands out somewhat between the 2 uptempo songs from Bulgaria and Macedonia.
Its rock time then from FYR of Macedonia. I am not a rock fan and am not sure this will secure a qualification for the Macedonians, but then again they do tend to qualify 10th and then fade in the final.
Another Kalomira soundalike in this semi final but this time from Romania and with a not too bad sounding song, not sure how this will come across on the night, think it may bomb like Teresa did for Czech Republic last year.
Finland have gone for something completely different in 2009 to their previous 3 entries and instead of rock are sending dance and in my opinion a very good one and should be a guarantee for qualification.
Folk music with style is what Portugal are sending to Moscow and I am sure they will get another decent placing in the final on 16th May, as good as 2008 and am sure the fans in the arena will be shouting for this on the night.
Choosing to sing in 17th spot was Malta and with Chiara belting out another one of her ballads how can this not qualify, a good song from a brilliant singer and a fantastic position in the semi final.
Only 18 songs in this semi final now following the withdrawal of Georgia and the last song to be performed is that from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a strong song for them and one that could be compared to Lejla from 2006. A very nice end to the first semi final of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.

So who do I think will qualify:-

Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, Iceland, Finland, Portugal, Malta, Bosnia and Herzegonia and Andorra

Moscow here we come!!!!!!!!!!

2009-03-16T23:53:00.005Z

Well thats it the National Final season for 2009 is now officially over and the countdown to Moscow has now started.

The favourite with the bookies seems to be Norway with Greece and Turkey not too far behind. The United Kingdom are commanding 7th favourites at the moment whilst the 3 previous winning nations Russia, Serbia and Finland are not particularly well thought of with Russia being the best bet at 9th favourites.

Its quite funny looking at the bets when you see that for the first time in years Russia are not the favourites of the former Soviet states....... that one goes to Azerbaijan this year and in my opinion deservedly so. The other suprise in the betting is to see that Montenegro who are in for the 3rd time is the favourite from the former Yugoslav Republics when they have over the past 2 years been the odds on favourites from that region not to get to the final...............will we see Montenegro in the final on May 16th??? I still am not sure on that one!!!!

I still think that Spain, Estonia and France are the ones to watch this year and believe all 3 songs are strong enough to win.

Just for fun!!!! - Update

2009-02-22T23:21:00.002Z

So with a few more countries added, here is the current top 10 from votes cast.......

10th France 7pts
9th Greece 10pts
8th Andorra 11pts
7th Norway 24pts
6th Denmark 28pts
5th Iceland 29pts
4th Finland 31pts
3rd Turkey 32pts
2nd UK 33pts

and leading at the moment is........ 1st Malta 51pts

As before, feel free to leave your own votes in the comments section. If you have voted previously, it would be useful if you told us that you'd voted before and which comment in the previous blog is yours. Thanks and enjoy!

Just For Fun !!!!!

2009-02-15T23:36:00.007Z

Colin and I have composed our own Top 10's form the 20 songs already chosen and here they are:-

Colin's

1 - Malta
2 - Turkey
3 - Finland
4 - United Kingdom
5 - Poland
6 - Denmark
7 - Germany
8 - Iceland
9 - France
10 - The Netherlands

Paul's

1 - Malta
2 - United Kingdom
3 - Iceland
4 - Finland
5 - France
6 - Slovenia
7 - Germany
8 - Poland
9 - Cyprus
10 - Denmark

I swapped the placings for Eurovision points and at the time with 20 songs chosen our Top 10 is:-

1 - Malta
2 - United Kingdom
3 - Finland
4 - Iceland
5 - Turkey
6 - Poland
7 - France
8 - Germany
9 - Denmark
10 - Slovenia

So if our tastes are anything to go by (probably not!) we'll be visiting Valletta in May 2010! As more countries announce their entrants, we'll obviously update it. If anyone would like to add their top 10 to the comments page, we'll add their votes to the total. So if you do participate, keep checking back for new blogs on this subject as new countries are added.

The Ballad is Back

2009-02-15T23:26:00.003Z

With 20 countries already having chosen their representatives and the song they will sing it is quite clear that the most popular genre of music in 2009 is the ballad. A genre of music which appears every year in some form or other, but on a much smaller scale seems to have taken over the popularity which had been taken over by the dancy/pop tune. The ballad I would say has not been this popular since the early 1990's.

With that in mind the ballad is definately making a comeback in 2009 and with nearly half of the songs already being chosen being one.

United Kingdom, France, Iceland, Denmark, Poland, Cyprus, Malta and Lithuania are to date sending ballads and I think they are all pretty darn good.

So why is the ballad making a comeback in 2009?

I wonder whether that it is due to the comeback of the juries in 2009 and that most countries seem to be using a 50/50 jury/televote split in choosing their entry.

Will all these ballads get lost amongst the others?

I don't think so because this year the ballads are fab and I think that the fact that they are all sung well will help. The other thing with the ballads that have been chosen so far is that they all focus on the song rather than the performance.

How many more ballads will be chosen this year?

Well I can't see Sweden or Norway sending a ballad.

I think Ireland and Portugal may!

Russia, Greece and Ukraine definately wont.

Another couple of weeks and we will know for sure.

The story so far.... (as of 14/02/09)

2009-02-15T12:06:00.005Z

This weekend has so far seen another five countries decide their entries, so here is the updated list of entrants and their songs......

Albania - Kejsi Tola - Me Merr ne Enderr
Andorra - Susanne Georgi - La Teva Decisio
Armenia - Inga & Anush - Non Par
Azerbaijan - Aysel - Arash
Belarus - Petr Elfimov - Eyes That Never Lie
Bosnia & Herzegovina - Regina - Bistra Voda
Cyprus - Christina Metaxa - Firefly
Czech Republic - Gipsy.cz - ???
Denmark - Brinck - Believe Again
Finland - Waldo's People - Lose Control
France - Patricia Kaas - Et s'il fallait le faire
Germany - Oscar Loya - 4 words with 4 letters: Miss Kiss Kiss Bang
Greece - Sakis Rouvas - ???
Hungary - Katya Tompos - Maganyos csonak (withdrawn - awaiting further news)
Iceland - Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir - Is It True
Israel - Noa and Mira Awad - ???
Lithuania - Sasha Son - Pasiklydes zmogus
Malta - Chiara - What If We
Moldova - Nelly Ciobanu - Hora Din Moldova!
Montenegro - Andrea Demirovic - Just Get Out of My Life
Netherland - De Toppers - Shine
Poland - Lidia Kopania - I Don't Want To Leave First
Romania - Elena Gheorghe - The Balkan Girls
Slovenia - Quartissimo - Love Symphony
Switzerland - Lovebugs - ???
Turkey - Hadise - Düm tek tek
United Kingdom - Jade Ewan - It's My Time

Deciding this week...... Greece, Norway, FYR Macedonia and Ireland

The Semi's are Decided!!!!!!!

2009-02-13T20:29:00.002Z

Semi final 1:

Andorra, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey

Also, United Kingdom, Germany and Spain will have to broadcast semi final One and televote for it.

Semi final 2:

Albania, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine

Also, Russia and France will have to broadcast semi final Two and televote for it.

Well we know that 7 songs from the 1st semi final have been announced and depending what happens with the others I really cannot see how Malta, Finland and Turkey will not qualify and without their songs being chosen yet I predict that the 10 to qualify will be:-

Armenia, Bosnia, Finland, Malta, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Iceland, Switzerland, Belgium.

Now Semi Final 2 is a difficult one but by the end of tomorrow night 8 of the songs will be known but so far I cannot see why Denmark, Slovenia or Cyprus could not qualify. So from Semi Final 2 I predict the following to qualify:-

Denmark, Ukraine, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia, Greece, Cyprus, Ireland, Croatia, Latvia

Poland Hopefully will send One of These!!!!!

2009-02-10T20:49:00.005Z

It would be nice for Man Meadow to be the Polish representative as it will bring another little bit of schlager to this years contest.........but we'll see on Saturday night.

Come on Sweden, Im Backing This One!!!

2009-02-09T14:30:00.005Z

And yes I am a BIG BIG Alcazar fan!!!!!!!!!!!

Im Backing this one for Norway!!!

2009-02-09T14:19:00.004Z

GOOD LUCK Alexander Rybak with the song "Fairytale"

The Year of The Ballad.......

2009-02-09T13:32:00.005Z

Don't you just lovethe National Finals, some of these can be just as exciting as the actual Eurovision Song Contest itself.

But where are the National Finals heading this year?

It would seem that the favourite genre of music this year appears to me to be "THE BALLAD"
The United Kingdom,Malta, Hungary, Cyprus, Denmark and France have all chosen them and I would say that 3 of them could actually win the Eurovision outright.

The next type of music which we seem to be getting is plain standard middle of the road pop but with a hint of Greece's "Kalomoira" in it.... The girls from Andorra, Montenegro, Turkey, Romania and Albania are al out in force with this type of music but I'm sorry girls your just not as good as Ani, Sirusho or Kalomoira from 2008, well maybe excluding Hadise from that one!!!

Mind you the dance song along the lines of Bulgaria and Iceland from 2008 are also making a welcome return.....Finland with the utterly fabulous "Lose Control" sung by Waldo's People, Quartissimo from Slovenia with "Love Symphony".

The Netherlands are trying their hand at "Schlager", but can they pull it off this year after 4 years of only being in the Semi Finals.

Belarus reminds me somewhat of last years Lithuanian entry but a little but poppier and I just don't get it I'm afraid

We are obviously still waiting to here the songs from Switzerland and Bosnia which have already confirmed well known bands will be their representatives.

The girls from Israel and Azerbaijan have not published their songs yet, but I am sure that both will be pretty good seeing as both countries would like to be doing as well if not better than 2008 when both countries finished in the Top 10.

Where will the rest of the songs to be chosen fit into these categories.

I will be interested to see what Germany tell us they are sending to Moscow tonight and then at the weekend we have the 2009 Super Saturday with Iceland, Moldova, Poland, Armenia and Lithuania choosing their songs, Norway and their second chance round, Sweden 2nd Semi Final and both Slovakia and Spain start their semi finals also.

The story so far.... (as of 07/02/09)

2009-02-08T23:11:00.009Z

So with a busy week of national selection programmes, here is the updated list of entrants and their songs......

Albania - Kejsi Tola - Me Merr ne Enderr
Andorra - Susanne Georgi - La Teva Decisio
Azerbaijan - Aysel - Arash
Belarus - Petr Elfimov - Eyes That Never Lie
Bosnia & Herzegovina - Regina - Bistra Voda
Cyprus - Christina Metaxa - Firefly
Czech Republic - Gipsy.cz - ???
Denmark - Brinck - Believe Again
Finland - Waldo's People - Lose Control
France - Patricia Kaas - Et s'il fallait le faire
Greece - Sakis Rouvas - ???
Hungary - Katya Tompos - Maganyos csonak
Israel - Noa and Mira Awad - ???
Malta - Chiara - What If We
Montenegro - Andrea Demirovic - Just Get Out of My Life
Netherland - De Toppers - Shine
Romania - Elena Gheorghe - The Balkan Girls
Slovenia - Quartissimo - Love Symphony
Switzerland - Lovebugs - ???
Turkey - Hadise - Düm tek tek
United Kingdom - Jade Ewan - It's My Time

Deciding this week...... Armenia, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Moldova and Poland

Come on Chiara!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-07T22:01:00.002Z

Malta choose tonight and who would bet on Chiara not getting the ticket to Moscow!!!

She is by far and away the favourite to win tonight in Valetta and would definately give the UK a run for their money and could even bring about a repeat of the 1998 Song Contest.

If Chiara gets the ticket to Eurovision then I will have got 3 right so far which is better than last year where the only song I supported and got right was No Angels from Germany.

The return of..... The story so far..........

2009-02-01T23:00:00.003Z

So now that we are well into the National Final season, it's time to bring back a welcomed feature of last year's build up to Eurovision. Everytime a country choses it's singer or song, we'll update you here. So here we go with the first update of entries chosen so far......

Albania - Kejsi Tola - Me Merr ne Enderr
Azerbaijan - Aysel - ???
Belarus - Petr Elfimov - Eyes That Never Lie
Bosnia & Herzegovina - Regina - Bistra Voda
Czech Republic - Gipsy.cz - ???
Denmark - Brinck - Believe Again
Finland - Waldo's People - Lose Control
France - Patricia Kaas - ???
Greece - Sakis Rouvas - ???
Israel - Noa and Mira Awad - ???
Montenegro - Andrea Demirovic - Just Get Out of My Life
Netherland - De Toppers - Shine
Romania - Elena Gheorghe - The Balkan Girls
Slovenia - Quartissimo - Love Symphony
Switzerland - Lovebugs - ???
Turkey - Hadise - Düm tek tek
United Kingdom - Jade - It's My Time

Over the next week, we'll see the national finals in Andorra, Cyprus and Malta.

Not a winner.

2009-02-01T21:31:00.006Z

So it's the beginning of February and the UK are all ready for Eurovision. For so many years we've had to wait until the last minute before finding out who was going to represent us.

However, with the passing of Wogan's reign over the ridicule of Eurovision in the UK, we were told that it was now time to take it seriously again to bring the Eurovision back to the UK shores, rather than being the laughing stock of the rest of Europe.

With UK fans having been told this numerous times before by the BBC, could we believe that this year was any different?

Enter Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, probably one of the best musical writers ever known (well, in my eyes anyway!) Maybe we were going to take it seriously this time. Stepping into Wogan's shoes, to take it seriously.... we choose a comedian!!?!

To choose our entrant, 5 shows - 4 being live, with Andrew Lloyd Webber writing the song for the winner. Seriousness is thrown out of the window right from the start with some lame sketches from a "Eurovision bunker". Why do we have to find comedy in every show about comedy? Even when ALW and Norton were involved in the choosing of main roles for Westend shows, there had to be some bad jokes.

So show 1 is all about the choosing of people for the live shows.... five people are chosen and it's then a choice between two female groups..... OR SO WE ARE LED TO BELIEVE!!!!!! Both groups are not chosen and hey presto, at the end of the show we are told that Jade has now qualified...... JADE WHO?

Now those who know the recent history of the BBC will know that they have been in trouble numerous times for fake competition winners and competitions where most had no chance of winning. So the alarm bells are ringing already. At this point I knew that Jade would represent the UK.

In the first live show, we are shown that talent doesn't stop you from being voted out when a strong contender is voted off first. However, future votes in live shows aren't really a surprise except for the fact that "The twins" unbelievably make it to the final.

In the meantime, it's announced that the lyricist for the song will be Diane Warren, famous for many blockbusting songs. So we look like we're going to have a very good song for Jade to sing... Oops sorry, the winner to sing!

So in the final, each finalist sings three songs. The second song being ALW's song. Marc sings it first and immediately you can see that it doesn't suit him and sounds too much like a musical finale - obviously the ALW background and Marc's background is too much for this combination in Eurovision. The twins are next and are better. They show that this song is definitely for a female, but just seem to lack something needed for a big arena. Next comes the winner, Jade, and shows that this song seems to have been made for her as it totally suits her.

So totally amazing voting in the final has Marc finish in 3rd.... could the UK public voting yet again sabotage the UK's chances? The twins for Eurovision?!, not likely, remember the plant - oops sorry another slip - Jade wins and everyone's happy - including ALW who you can see is totally relieved that the twins didn't win!

So to song..... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ - Oops sorry, fell asleep thinking of the song again! Yes, it's bad! Don't know how long Diane took with the lyrics, but she was either not paid enough, had a plane to catch or just didn't care, but they are awful and repetitive. I'm sure I've read somewhere that "It's my time" is repeated 40-odd times within 3 minutes. After listening to it three times in the final, I was ready to turn over.

So what's the bottom line in my opinion?....... I'm sure we'll attract a few more votes than last year, depending on if a newcomer, Jade, can handle the pressure on the night. If she does well, a top half finish is possible. I doubt that we'll be going to London in 2010, as I don't think the song has enough to stand out amongst all of the other entries.

Montenegro Decide

2009-01-25T16:45:00.004Z

And become the 4th country to announce both singer and song - Andrea Demirovic will sing an uptempo cheese fest of a song called "Just Get Out of My Life" and I have to say that out of the 4 chosen so far it is my 2nd favourite behind Turkey.

Born in 1985 in Titograd, Montenegro she has 2 previous attempts at representing her country, Firstly in Beovijia to represent what was then Serbia & Montenegro and then again to represent Montenegro. So finally she gets the opportunity to represent her home country in Moscow in May.

I have to say I do prefer the song to last years entry but still prefer Steven Faddy's 2007 entry. She is the first female representative from Montenegro, but will she be the first to qualify for the Eurovision Final......Only time will tell.....Personally I think she may have a very good chance!!! But what do I know and there are still 39 to choose!!

I'm sorry but I had to have a Rant

2009-01-25T15:53:00.003Z

Today I was reading an article on ESCToday regarding the United Kingdom and that the song title was now known and it gave me a link to another article which was in the Daily Mail which was an interview with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and I have to say I was sick to death of the comments people were making on there about the UK at Eurovision and this years procedure for choosing the song.

So I let rip, I had 1000 characters and made sure I used every single one of them to have a go at the quite obvious non Eurovision fans for the constant moaning.

Please bear in mind these are my own thoughts and comments and no one elses.

"The real reason for the UK not doing so well at Eurovision over the past few years is down to one thing and one thing only - the public vote - YES thats right you lot who are all on here moaning about it!!! You all voted for Daz Sampson instead of Tony Costa, Scooch instead of Cyndi and Andy Abrahams instead of Michelle Gayle. All of these singers especially Cyndi would have done exceptionally well in Eurovision.
The singers on this show that Andrew Lloyd Webber is using to choose the singer of his and Diane Warrens (who is a multi grammy award winning lyricist) song are extremely professional and Jade and Mark are absolutely fantastic and could give the UK a damn good chance of bringing the Eurovision Crown back to us.
So instead of moaning about it get behind the contestants left in the show and make sure that you vote for the performer you think would do very well and then show your support on May 16th and watch."

Anyway I'm going to stop ranting now and play a little light music - Lordi might suffice at this moment!!!!!!!

BTW this contest is still able to get an audience of 10million+

Bring on The Danes!!!!!!!!

2009-01-21T22:13:00.004Z

The weekend of the 30 January to 2 February 2009 will see the announcement of 6 Countries songs for Eurovision including:-

Romania
Finland
United Kingdom
The Netherlands
Slovenia
Denmark

Denmark have in my mind got one of the strongest National Finals for a long time and there are at least 5 songs which I think could do very well in Moscow. Unfortunately due to not being in the country that weekend I will have to catch up with the announcements upon my return on February 3rd.

I am going to say right now and stick my neck on the line that I think that 1 of the following will win:-

Trine Jepsen - I'll Never Fall In Love Again
Sukkerchok - Det' Det
Johnny Deluxe - Sindssyg
Christina Undhjem - Underneath My Skin

My favourite is Sukkerchok and would love that go to Moscow.

Belarus Choose!!!!!!

2009-01-21T22:05:00.002Z

And I'm sorry but they have decided what I can only describe as a horrid soft metal song called "Eyes That Never Lie" and is sung by Petr Elfimov.

This is by no ways in the same league as Koldun or Ruslan Alenho and I think this is the second worst song sent by Belarus ever in their history of Eurovision entries. I simply cannot bring myself to like this song and after expecting even greater things from them this year I simply cannot see us visiting Minsk in 2010.

However we all have our own tastes in music, so here it is for you to listen too.

What A Week.............

2009-01-18T23:06:00.005Z

it has been in Euro land..................Another 3 countries have announced their singers, but not the songs which will be announced later.

Azerbaijan are sending Aysel a 19 year old singer whom I think after watching her rehearsal is not exactly what I expected after their debut last year and dont think that she is a particularly strong singer.

Bosnia & Herzegovina are sending Regina a rock group who have a wealth of experience and have been around for a while and I think given a decent song could do ok.

However Switzerland have pulled out all the stops and are sending Lovebugs and from watching the videos on You Tube could actually do very well for the Swiss if they have a brilliant song which I can see them doing. Could this be the year which sees Switzerland back in the Eurovision Final.....I do hope so

Bosnia Have Announced

2009-01-12T21:01:00.002Z

That they will be sending a rock band to Moscow with a song called "Bistra Voda" (Clear Water). The band is called Regina and have been on the scene for over 20 years. The song will be presented to the public on March1st.

Personally I am not a massive fan of rock so it will be very interesting to see what happens with the Bosnian entry.

Israel have decided...........

2009-01-11T22:11:00.003Z

According to early reports and following many names being thrown into the ring it would seem that IBA (the Israeli TV Company) have offered the job of bringing the Eurovision Crown back to Jerusalem to Ahinoam Nini (more commonly known in Israel as Noa). It is believed that she was offered the job this morning by IBA and accepted the job in a similar sort of fashion to last years Azerbaijan representatives by saying she would only go if her friend Mira Awad who is an Israeli-Arab performed with her.

It is believed that Noa and Mira will present 3 songs on IBA and the public will be asked to choose the one to go to Moscow.

Patricia Kaas For France........

2009-01-11T21:59:00.005Z

According to ESCtoday the French will be announcing that Patricia Kaas will be representing them at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.

A big name in France she has sold well over 17 million records worldwide since the appearance of her first album in 1988.

Following a break from the music industry which started in 2005 she is returning to the International stage to sing what could possibly be the best French entry in years (even though I dont know what it is yet!!!)

Further information regarding the French representative will be updated regularly.

BRING IT ON!!!!!

2009-01-11T00:02:00.004Z

Well what a coup for the UK!!!

A multi award winning composer in the form of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber composing the song and a Multi Grammy Award winning Diane Warren helping with the lyrics.

Oh my god I am soooooooo excited about this!!!

The superstars this woman has written for is phenomenal, they include 5 Star, Cher, Bette Midler, Belinda Carlisle, Aaliyah, Ace of Base, Al Green, Backstreet Boys, Barbra Streisand, Bill Medley, Bon Jovi, Bonnie Tyler, Brandy, Chaka Khan, Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion and Diana Ross to name but a few.

With 3 Grammy Awards, 6 Academy Award Nominations, 4 Golden Globe Nominations, 18 Billboard Awards and Honours and 26 other awards I personally think that this is the best news for the United Kingdom.

Do you think the United Kingdom will be the one to beat in Moscow with this team behind the song cos I do!!!

Dum Tek Tek is the song for Turkey

2009-01-03T22:17:00.005Z

And what a belter of a song it is, even my eldest son thinks this is a winner.

I actually think that this is the best Turkish entry since "Superstar" from Athens 2006 and am secretly hoping that this could mean a second Turkish victory.

The song I think has that ethnic Turkish hint to it with a serious dance, and with a hint of Elena Paparizou in the singer that could spell success for Turkey.

I still think we could be seeing a succession of dance numbers coming through over the next few weeks.

National Final Season!!!

2008-12-29T22:22:00.002Z

Well as we already know Albania have chosen their song for Moscow 2009, but over the next 3 and a bit months it really kicks in before the final song is chosen on Saturday 14th March.

The next song to be made public is Turkey on New Years Eve when Hadise will perform her song live on a specially produced programme on TRT.

With Greece and The Netherlands having also announced their singers and both Malta and Bulgaria with heats currently ongoing and the Belarus Eurofest Semi Final on December 15th,The United Kingdom officially become the 8th country to start their televised productions with Finland starting the week after and then Iceland, with Bosnia announcing their singer and song on 12 January. Towards the end of January we have the first of the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix heats, then comes the Romanian Heats and Andorran Final before Romania, Cyprus,Denmark and Finland hold their National Finals.So that would appear to be January sorted with at least another 5 performers and songs known, making 8 in total (34 to go).

February gets off to a flying start with both the Dutch, British and Slovene National Finals, followed by the one we all love to watch Swedens Melodifestivalen starting on the 7th. Malta, Iceland, Norway and Bulgaria all bring their heats to an end with their National Finals, whilst both the FYR Macedonia, Poland, Ireland, Ukraine and Croatia hold their National Finals. Latvia would also have held their National Final in February, but have now withdrawn from the 2009 contest. So by the end of February 20 Countries will have definately announced their participants.

March at the moment is another story with only the Serbia, Estonia, Slovakia and Sweden National Finals in the diary so far making 24 songs announced.

So what about the other 18 countries that we believe will be taking part in Moscow:-

Montenegro have called for songs and will choose internally
France, Germany and Switzerland are all choosing internally.
Greece have chosen their singer but not the song.
Belarus have already held their Eurofest Semi Final but no date has been set for the National Final.
Moldova are in the process of choosing songs to go through to the final
Spain are voting on the Internet at the moment until 19th January
Portugal will be starting their Internet vote on January 19th
Israel are choosing the singer internally and the song on the TV with a televote/jury vote

Whilst Belgium, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Lithuania have not made any announcements at all and in the case of Lithuania is still uncertain as to participation.

OOOOOOOh I'm getting all excited now. Bring it on!!!!!!!!!

And We're Off........

2008-12-22T20:37:00.003Z

The first song for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest has been chosen and the pleasure of announcing first goes to Albania.

The song is called "Me Merr ne Enderr" and is sung by Kejsi Tola and will be the sixth Albanian Eurovision Song Contest Entry.

Personally I think form seeing the live performance that the performance needs some work and her voice is not the strongest I have heard, but she comes across as enthusiastic and with the extra work could give a good performance in Moscow. The song is very ethno-dance and following the success of some of the dance acts in Belgrade could go down well with the fans. But we will see.

My fave from Finland!!!!!

2008-12-22T20:12:00.006Z

Well after a night out with some friends recapping on old Eurovisions, well 1985 to be honest we decided to watch the videos for the Finnish entrants in the Finnish National Finals for Eurovision 2009 and we decided unanimously that Waldo's People have got our vote.
The song I think is perfect for a more modern Eurovision and following the songs from Macedonia, Iceland and Bulgaria in 2008 then I think Finland could stand a good chance with this as their entry.

Voting starts tomorrow!

2008-12-18T23:00:00.003Z

Spain opens it's internet voting for it's 2009 entry at midday tomorrow (19th December) CET via myspace.

978 entries were received, but of that figure, amazingly only 455 entries were eligable! So I suppose the task to find your favourite is less daunting now. You can vote 20 times each day, but you can only vote for one artist 5 times a day.

So let's get voting! Would be nice to get a warm country for 2010!

Credit crunch arrives in Eurovisionland!

2008-12-18T22:36:00.006Z

Well, it looks like the Eurovision does operate in the real world! Even though San Marino, Lithuania and Latvia had stated their intentions to participate in the 2009 contest, it looks like the credit crunch has finally started biting at the door of Eurovision.

Earlier rumours surrounding the Russia-Georgia situation had given rise to doubts over Latvia and Lithuania's participation anyway, but this week's news stories make great pains to state that it is all about the lack of funds.

It seems that San Marino have confirmed their withdrawal and it seems to have been accepted. There's no further news from Lithuania, but Latvia confirmed that they had made a request for a withdrawal. However, some news sites seem to think that the EBU may look towards helping out the Latvian broadcaster with a payment plan or similar.

Even though I always look forward to hearing the Latvian and Lithuanian entries each year, I hope that the EBU keep it nice and simple. Not enough money = no entry. Otherwise, they will be digging a big hole for themselves!

Anyway, if all three do withdraw, let's hope that the credit crunch is over soon and they'll have enough money again soon to participate!

Johnny, what's another year?!

2008-12-14T19:23:00.003Z

The big rumours coming out of Ireland at the moment is that there has been a high level RTE approach to their most successful Eurovision artist - Johnny Logan.

Having won as an artist in 1980 with "What's another year?" and in 1987 with "Hold me know", Logan then penned the 1992 winner "Why me?" sung by Linda Martin.

Despite dominating the contests in the 90's, Ireland have fallen on stony ground lately and sunk to their lowest last year by being represented by a Turkey puppet! Their last good result being in 2006, when the well-known Brian Kennedy gained a top 10 finish with "Every song is a cry for love."

I hope Johnny does accept the invitation as I think it would be good to see how far Eurovision has changed since his wins. We have had a number of past female winners trying to get another win, but no past male winner. So far, those females have attracted some votes, but haven't been able to replicate the win.

It would be good to see the Eurovision back in Ireland!

Spain look to the public again.

2008-12-11T00:05:00.002Z

Good news arrives from Spain! Even though they weren't that succesful in the voting in Belgrade, the bosses in Spain are yet again looking towards the internet community to help choose their entry for Moscow.

Yet again, people will be able to vote for their favourite song at www.myspace.com/eurovision2009. The voting will start on 19th December and run until 19th January. A day later, 50 acts will be announced as having reached the semi-finals, which will take place sometime in February.

Congratulations to Spain on yet another good choice!

Why?!

2008-12-07T22:51:00.002Z

So Terry Wogan has finally retired having damaged the reputation of the Eurovision Song Contest in the UK for far too many years.

So, considering that the UK seem to be trying to take the pre-selection a bit more seriously by having Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber help, who do they decide to take over? GRAHAM NORTON!! WHY?!

For one, Graham Norton has no experience at commentating. Two, I doubt Graham Norton has any experience of being serious! So we'll be subjected to more poor jokes, tasteless innuendos as the BBC moves the commentating more away from the music. How can Terry Wogan complain about the contest moving away from being a Music contest, when the BBC has failed to treat it as such for so long!

So here's to many more years of Eurovision being a total joke in the UK!

Well You Could Knock Me Down with a Feather!!!!!

2008-11-21T22:44:00.003Z

Monaco are back!!!

After all the talk that that the National TV station of Monaco had said no to attending the 54th Contest in Moscow, it would seem that they have backtracked slightly and have now announced that they will in fact be there.

However, this would appear not to be the biggest news of Countries attempting to win the Eurovision Crown in Moscow. According to rumours on other websites another country is either coming back or we have a newcomer. I wonder who it will be?

There are several countries who would be classed as newcomers to the contest even though they have been members of EBU for donkeys years - Algeria, Libya, Tunisia (remember the 70's when they said they would be going but changed their minds?), Egypt, Vatican State (can't really see this, but you never know), Kazakhstan, Lebanon (now their banishment has been lifted) or could it be Liechtenstein (with their own TV company now) or even Kosovo (but what would Serbia do?)

Now lets look at previous competitors - Georgia (have said they wont be there, but have they changed their minds? I doubt it), Austria (who have made it perfectly clear they wont attend until the changes have taken place and work!), Luxembourg (Have RTL finally relented and agreed to compete again now that interest is growing again?), Morocco (28 years after their one and only attempt have they decided to come back for more?), or could it be the one many fans want to see back................ ITALY!!??

No matter what happens Svante has already hinted that it will be a record year again!! Both Poland and Hungary have now confirmed attendance, which leaves the definate confirmations from Montenegro, Macedonia and Armenia. This basically means that even with the withdrawal of Georgia there will be at least 44 countries in Moscow, but could it be 45?

39 have said yes

2008-11-16T23:36:00.003Z

It would look like 39 countries have said yes to sending entries to the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. At the moment we know for definate that Georgia will not be appearing in Moscow as well as Luxembourg, Italy, Monaco and Austria. At the moment Hungary, Armenia, Montenegro and San Marino have not made a formal announcement.

What we do know is that RAi have endorsed San Marino's entering again.

Hungarian TV will be making a formal announcement this week.

I can't see Armenia not being there seeing as they were apparently one of the biggest opponents of pure televoting and I have been told that they thought they were robbed of winning in Belgrade because of this.

Montenegro are alway quite late in making a final decision on their attendance, but personally can't see them wanting to let the likes of Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Serbia stealing the limelight so think they will be there.

We already know that Greece, Turkey and Netherlands have decided on their singers and that both Bulgaria and Malta have started their semi final process, with Albania deciding in December and then several other nations starting their National Finals in January the race has well and truly begun.

I have to say that my money so far is on Greece and Malta..............Do you really think Chiara wont get the ticket to Moscow...cos I dont.

She's Back!!!!!!!

2008-10-27T21:36:00.002Z

And back with a vengeance for her third attempt at Eurovision glory and will it be 3rd time lucky for her. Who am I talking about you are asking?

Well Chiara of course!!! Malta have finally convinced the Maltese songstress to try again for a bite at the cherry which is called Eurovision, but first she has to participate in Eurosong 09. Eurosong 2009 is the Maltese National selection and unfortunately for Chiara she has some stiff competition, not only has she got the likes of Claudia Faniello, Eleanor Cassar, Klinsmann, Miriam Christine, Natasha & Charlene and Ludwig Galea but she has also got to face the songwriting talents of Gerard James Borg, Paul Abela, Philip Vella, Ray Agius and Ralph Siegel who has now set his sights on representing Malta.

Personally I have not heard the song and am not sure when they will be released by the Maltese but I dont think she should have any problem as long as it is a traditional ballad to go with her fantastic voice.

With a 3rd place in Birmingham 1998 and 2nd place in Kyiv 2005 will it be 1st place in Moscow 2009.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Eurovision?

2008-10-18T22:42:00.002+01:00

Well the BBC think that Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber can!! And I have to say so do I!!!

Well all I need now is to get my voice back after this stinking cold and chesty cough and get someone to record me on video so that I can send application in.

This I believe is the first time in the United Kingdoms history of Eurovision that it has been opened up on such a scale to everyone.

Now the big question is "What type of song will it be?"

I think he may go for a big big ballad and may even get Tim Rice to co-compose it!!

Will it be enough to put the UK on the Eurovision map again??? I think it will, but will it be enough to win??? I think we will come close, but then again the Swedes, Maltese, Dutch and Greeks are I think going to pull all the stops out for Moscow.

Now I am going to have a big problem choosing a song for this part........... Phantom, Cats, Aspects or Evita????

Fantastic OGAE UK Eurobash

2008-10-14T22:22:00.003+01:00

Saturday 4th October 2009 was a good day in my book as it was the OGAE UK Eurobash held in Birmingham. What a fab day it was, with well over 100 people attending and with 2 guests speakers who were interviewed during the afternoon, those being Bill Martin who is probably most famously known for being the co-writer of the 1967 winner sung by Sandie Shaw "Puppet on a String" and Gemma Abbey who was one half of the duo Jemini who got the first and only notorious "nul points" for the United Kingdom in Riga 2003.

Both guest were very vocal about Eurovision, Bill Martin stating that Terry Wogan should step aside as his comments bring the Contest to ridicule, Gemma stating that the BBC were their best friends until the night of the final and the nul points was confirmed and then both her and Chris (her singing partner) were dropped "like a tonne of bricks"

The afternoon also consisted of a quiz and "A best Song from Number 2" contest which was a pick of the best songs that have sang 2nd in all of the contests. This was won by Sebnem Pakers 1997 entry for Turkey "Dinle" which until then was their highest placed entry ever.

The evening got under way with a EUROVISION "Stars in their Eyes" which was won by "Duo Datz" and then ended with a Eurovision filled disco which ended at well past 2am and didnt see me getting to bed till gone 3am.

Well after the Eurobash for me it is now the official start of my countdown to Moscow. I will keep you all up to date with any details of EUROBASH 2009.

Estonia Confirm a Few Changes

2008-10-14T22:04:00.002+01:00

It would appear that now that the Estonian public vetoed the Head of Estonian Television (ERR) and said that they wanted an Estonian participation in Moscow, that ERR are finally taking the whole thing seriously again.

Today the announcement has been made that the Eesti Laul 2009 will take part on March 7th 2009. The old Eurolaul as it was called previously has been scrapped for the new format so that should a decision be made in the future for Estonia not to participate at Eurovision then a contest will be in place that will bring Estonian Pop Music to the fore.

10 songs will be performed in the final, but it is not known at this time what type of voting procedure will be used.

I do hope they use a jury vote and that they send something which is not as bad as what they sent this year, with thet in mind I would normally put a video on here of the latest Eurovision entry, however I am going to choose my own personal Estonian favourite............. Ines from 2000.

Slovakia are back!!!

2008-09-28T22:31:00.003+01:00

And about time too!!!!

So that just leaves Italy (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COME BACK!), Austria (who wont be in Moscow), Monaco (Still no decision), Luxembourg (PLEASE PLEASE COME BACK!!) and Georgia (who have decided not to go to Moscow)

I have to say I was suprised the Slovaks didn't come back this year after the Czech Republics first attempt.

I wonder what the Slovaks will send to Moscow? How will they choose it? Will they do as badly as before?

I hope not...... Motlidba was fantastic and should have been a lot higher in the rankings than where it finished in 1998........ 8 points was abysmal for such a fantastic song. Mind you it's not the first time a fantastic song did so poorly - remember Rita Guerra in 2003 for Portugal.

Anyway here is Slovakian 1998 entry to remind you.

De Toppers for The Netherlands

2008-09-21T19:59:00.004+01:00

and that officially makes them the second country to choose their singers for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest............is it me or is it starting earlier each year????

De Toppers are a popular group in the Netherlands who are renowned for their sell out tours in the Netherlands and have performed to no less than 360,00 people since 2005.

De Toppers are Gerard Joling, Rene and Gordon Froger.... As everyone is aware Gerard Joling performed for the Netherlands in 1998 with the song "Shangri-La" which still happens to be one of my all time favourites even now.
It is believed that the popularity in the group with the Netherlands will be enough to send their viewing figures sky high and also with the experience of Gerard Joling at Eurovision are hoping for the Netherlands to be in the final for the first time since 2004.
Mind you didn't the Dutch expect that with Edsilia Rombley in 2007 when she was robbed of a Final place?

Good Luck to the Netherlands, hopefully we shall see you in the final in Moscow.

I was debating which video to show but seeing as Gerard is going to be in Moscow I thought I would remind you of his 1988 entry:-

Estonia Confirm Attendance!!!!

2008-09-17T22:32:00.002+01:00

Much to the disgust of some people within Estonian National Broadcaster ETV the Estonian public have voted with a large majority to send an entry to Moscow in 2009.

It would appear that the threat of a boycott is over even though Poland and Lithuania have still not confirmed their attendance yet.

Lets hope that Estonia send something half decent in 2009 after this years abysmal entry which once again since the Semi Finals were introduced saw the Estonians fail to qualify for the final.

Lets remember their glory years with a song that in my mind is one of their best entries ever!

YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-15T22:04:00.002+01:00

Finally the National Broadcasters have decided to bring back the International Juries to play a part in the decision of who wins the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.

I for one am well chuffed with this and can't wait to see what impact it will have.

It is believed that the decision has been made following a comparison of the jury votes (which were not officially made public) and the televoting..............It has never been confirmed as the EBu are keeping very quiet about it, but reading between the lines the jury vote chose a completely different Eurovision winner in Belgrade......I would love to know who it would have been.

The Jury vote will only be used in the Final, whereas the Semi Finals will be the same as this year in Belgrade and as we all know the back up juries did us the honour of saving Sweden who finished 12th after the televote but were the highest scoring country of the Juries thus knocking Macedonia in to 11th place.

A final decision has not been made as to what extent the juries will have a say on the final procedure but I bet my bottom dollar that it will be a 50/50% split.

Raise a glass to Svante he has finally listened to all of us.

Just a Quick Note to our readers to say.......

2008-09-15T22:02:00.002+01:00

SORRY for not being as regular with updates on the blog over the past couple of months, unfortunately personal issues have overtaken both myself and Colin which has meant less time to deal with the blog and reply to any comments or information given.

As of today both of us will now be making regular updates on the blog and would appreciate any comments or information that you have.

Once Again Sorry

Paul & Colin

Possible Boycott!!!!!!!!!!

2008-08-22T22:37:00.006+01:00

Could Eurovision be heading for a triple Baltic state Boycott.........well Estonia and Lithuania seem to be heading that way using the Russian/Georgian political crisis. Whilst Latvia seem to be condemning the issue of a boycott.

Are Estonia and Lithuania using the political crisis between Russia and Georgia instead of the fact that over the past few years they have sent absolute dross to the Contest, whilst Latvia are a regular contender in the final.

I personally think that it would be silly for Estonia and Lithuania to boycott, but hey its their choice!!!

So if Estonia and Lithuania say no, they will be joining Austria and Monaco in staying away... Could this be the start of a major boycott similar to what the world experienced in 1980 at the Moscow Olympics following the Russian/Afghan conflict.

Watch this space cos I dont want a boycott and think it will do more damage than good....but then again it didnt do the Olympics any harm did it!

Austria Not Going To Moscow

2008-07-27T22:14:00.003+01:00

Its been 42 years now since Austria lifted the Eurovision crown with the song "Merci Cherie" which was sung by Udo Jurgens and now it would seem that ORF the Austrian Broadcaster will be making it 43 years as they have announced that they will not be sending a song to Moscow in 2009.

Austria have not been a regular attendant over the past couple of years and even when they have been there they have not worried the judges too much even if they have sent a couple of corkers. In my opinion "Y'Asi" which was in the 2005 Contest sung by Global Kryner was one of the most original songs in the contest and also one of the best vocals and should have qualified and it was this lack of qualification with this song that made the Austrians decide not to compete in Athens. A bad result in Helsinki then made the Austrians again withdraw from Belgrade with a statement "that the voting needed to be looked at and changed dramatically". Even with this change to the Eurovision and there now being 2 semi finals the Austrian TV Broadcaster has once again decided that a trip to Eurovision at this stage will not happen because not enough has been done to stop the bloc/diaspora voting.

I loved Global Kryner in 2005 so here it is:-

Monaco Wont Be In Moscow!!!

2008-07-27T21:49:00.002+01:00

It is with great sadness that we announce that Monaco have announced their intention not to have a performer in Moscow at the Eurovision Song Contest and I for one am very sad about it.

Over the years Monaco have sent some absolute classics to Eurovision, but in their last 3 attempts could never manage to pass the Semi Finals and decided not to take part again since 2007.

Lets remember Monaco at their very best when they won in 1971:-

Could this be the Dutch Entrant in Moscow?

2008-07-27T21:35:00.003+01:00

Over the past few weeks Dutch Eurovision fans have been voting for who they would like to see representing their country in Moscow at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.

Anouk is a 33 year old singer who has been a star in The Netherlands since 1997 having had 5 number 1 albums she is a popular singer who has become the fans favourite to represent them in Moscow. The full list included previous Dutch Eurovision contestants Glennis Grace and Gerard Joling.

It is believed that the list of the votes will be given to NOS the Dutch Broadcasting Company to help them with their decision.

Here is one of Anouks videos and she can prove that she can sing live too!

Can You Believe It???!!!!!!!

2008-07-15T22:13:00.004+01:00

53 days after the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest Greece National Broadcaster ERT have announced and confirmed that Sakis Rouvas who represented them in 2004 with "Shake It" in Istanbul and was the co-host in 2006 in Athens will be representing them again at the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow in 2009.
ERT are believed to be preparing for a Press Conference possibly being held in September to officially confirm Sakis Rouvas as their representative.

So thats it the first Singer for 2009..............welcome to Eurovision once again Sakis Rouvas..........

It's now official I will be in Moscow next year!!!!! hehehehe!!!!!

Maybe Athens 2010 then..........................

OGAE UK Invites you to the EUROBASH 2008

2008-07-11T23:45:00.002+01:00

OGAE UK have organised the annual get together for all members and friends of OGAE (UK). The event will be held on Saturday 4th October 2008 at The Jurys Inn Hotel, Broad Street, Birmingham.

In the evening there is a "Euro Disco" starting at 9pm and finishing very late which will cost everyone that wants to attend £5.

Now I have been given the job of organising the tickets and promotion for the "Euro Disco" so if anyone is interested in attending for one of the best Eurovision nights out please get in touch and let me know. The cost will be £5 and is payable prior to attendance and tickets will be sent out by myself via email, so I will require email addresses.

You can email me direct at paul__35@msn.com (please note that it is a double _)

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Voting!!!!!!!!

2008-07-04T22:17:00.004+01:00

Well I wonder what the EBU have up their sleeves regarding the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow? Personally I think they are trialing the 50/50 voting at the JESC to see what happens.

In my opinion (and this is only my opinion) I think that to bring back a partial jury vote is the best idea..........unfortunately I'm not sure that allowing total televoting is the way forward. After watching the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest I think that a lot of the good quality songs were lost in the semi finals and should have qualified - I mean what happened to Netherlands (again)?

The final is another good one to look at too............ There were several very good vocal performances in the final and I believe that they lost out to "neighbourly" or "diaspora" televoting. We will never be able to turn round to a Lithuanian living in Ireland and say "You cant vote for Lithuania" but I feel that by having a 50/50 vote the guarantee of 12 points from Ireland to Lithuania (should Lithuania be in the final) is not as guaranteed as pre 2007.

Would Russia have won if in 2008 if 50/50 voting had been used? Im not sure!!!

It would be interesting to see what the result would have been if the back up juries had been used........Unofficially the Turkish jury vote has been made public (but is it true?) and it makes good reading especially when compared to the televote from the same country.

JURY VOTE

12 - Ukraine
10 - Sweden
8 - United Kingdom
7 - Norway
6 - Serbia
5 - Iceland
4 - Greece
3 - Israel
2 - Poland
1 - Portugal

TELEVOTE

12 - Azerbaijan
10 - Armenia
8 - Ukraine
7 - Greece
6 - Bosnia & herzegovina
5 - Russia
4 - Georgia
3 - Spain
2 - Norway
1 - Albania
The comparison says it all - Ukraine, Greece and Norway are the only ones from the Televote that appeared in the Jury Vote.

So will it be 50/50 televote/jury vote next year in Moscow............we shall have to see.

It's MOSCOW!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-25T22:38:00.004+01:00

According to the Oikotimes Svante Stockeselius has announced that the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will be held at the Olimpski Arena in Moscow.
The arena was built for the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and was where the Basketball and Boxing events were held.
It has a total capacity of 80,000 people but for the purposes of the Eurovision Song Contest will probably be capable of seating up to 20,000.

The First National Finals Announced.....

2008-06-19T23:23:00.002+01:00

Already the 2009 season has started to be announced with the Finnish broadcaster YLE today announcing details about their national selection for next year. 12 artists will be invited to take part, just as previous years. Three semifinals will be held january 9, 16 and 23. In each semi four songs participate, two get a ticket to the final, another two will later get a new chance
to reach the final. All together Saturday 31st of January 2009 we will see 8 songs compete in the grand final.
Wow its not even a month since Belgrade and the National final season for 2009 is being announced.

Who will be in and who will be out?????

2008-06-14T22:54:00.003+01:00

One question that is being asked by myself at the moment already is who will be in Russia and who won't be:-

Ok well we already know that Sweden have started their quest for Melodifestivalen 2009, Germany have stated they will be there but with changes to their selection, United Kingdom will be there (but will Terry Wogan?), Malta have said yes (with a new format for MaltaSong). The following countries have also confirmed their attendance in Russia - Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belarus, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia (obviously!!), Serbia, Spain, and Turkey.

Austria, San Marino and now Andorra have said final decisions will be made in the Autumn as to whether they will be attending.

Slovakia have also shown an interest in returning for the first time since 1998.

Luxembourg have said definately "NO and NEVER AGAIN"

Kosovo have approached the EBU with an application to join which could make them eligible to enter in 2009, but, the question is! If Kosovo send an entry to Russia....Will Serbia? First indications would seem to show that RTS havesaid that they will withdraw from 2009 if Kosovo take part.

Now I have to say that the big suprise for me is that Poland are a possible for a withdrawal. After their first Final appearance since 2004 TVP (the National Broadcaster) will make a decision in October as to whether there will be a Polish entrant in Russia.

The one Broadcaster not to mention anything at this stage is RAI from Italy...............I still think they were behind San Marino's entry in 2008 and will decide from there whether they will re enter in the near future or not.

Andorra May Not Be In Russia!!!!

2008-06-14T21:59:00.002+01:00

And I for one will be extremely disappointed if they are not there!!!!

The reason apparently is that the Andorran TV Station RTVA will not make a definate decision following another non qualification from the semi final this year in Belgrade.

Andorra are one of the few who have never qualified from the semi final to the final of Eurovision, but came very close in Helsinki when they scored their highest placing of 12th.

Andorra have been in Eurovision since 2004 when the semi finals were first introduced and after a not very auspicious start seemed to be making headway and sending better songs.

2004 Marta Roure - Jugarem A Estimar-Nos 18th place with 12pts
2005 Marian van de Wal - La Mirada Interior 23rd place with 27pts
2006 Jenny - Sense Tu 23rd place with 8pts
2007 Anonymous - Salvem el món 12th place with 80pts
2008 Gisela - Casanova 16th place (semi final 2) with 22pts

I do so hope that RTVA stay positive about the Andorran participation in Eurovision, I mean 5 years isnt that long really when you consider how many years it took for Finland to win, and Portugal, Cyprus and Iceland have not given up yet and they are all still waiting for their first victories in the contest.

So come on RTVA don't disappoint, stick with it and send something fantastic to Russia and hopefully you will qualify.

Congratulations Russia!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-01T22:19:00.006+01:00

Well Dima Bilan won the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest and I would like to wish the entire Russian Delegation a hearty congratulations.

I said right at the start that he would win and give the Russians their first Eurovision victory. I am not personally a big fan of the song and still don't understand the performance for the song...but I suppose we should be greatful that he didn't sit on the ladder and sing.

The thing that suprised me about the Russian Victory was that he didnt get more 12 points, however 7 sets of 12 were not too bad even though 6 were from former Soviet states - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia.

So after 13 attempts and 2 second places and 2 third places they now have that elusive victory.

7 Days have passed and ......................

2008-06-01T22:04:00.003+01:00

I am already looking forward to Moscow or St Petersburg or wherever the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will be held.

So after 5 costume changes during performances, at least 6 pairs of silver stilettos, 5 gimmick acts, 17 solo female performances, 10 solo male performances and 16 groups and duos the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest is over and the countdown has started for many of us for next year.

Suprises this year or what???????!!! .........

Where did Croatia and Albania come from in Semi Final 2?
How did Netherlands and Belgium not qualify?
How come Sweden sent a fab song which ended up being saved by the jury?

I am not sure we will ever know the real answers, but one is for sure the TV viewers obviously saw something on the television that I never saw in the arena!!!!!!!!

Looking back

2008-05-26T23:34:00.002+01:00

Well another year's contest is over and I'm now back at home. So what are my thoughts on the contest?

There are two things that stand out this year....

1. Belgrade's/Serbia's apathy towards the contest, and
2. The results (as always!)

So let's look at them in turn....

1. After the recent elections, it appears that Serbians are keen to join the EU and after many years of troubles, which I will not go into, I would have thought that hosting the Eurovision would have been an excellent way to show what they are capable of. However, in the city itself, you would have been hard pressed to actually know that the contest was taking place! For most of the week, the only thing you could see with regards to the Eurovision was that a few shops were cashing in on the merchandise, a single information stall in one of the squares and I saw one advertisment for the Azerbaijan entry (there may have been more).

So why did they not take up the opportunity? Was it that after the recent problems over Kosovo, they couldn't be bothered? Was it that they were only interested in making a good TV show? I for one certainly can't make out which one it is, but all I can say is that I was left deflated by their apathy.

2. The result! What can I say?! Ok, Dima's song was a good one, but that's all it was - ok. There were a number of songs which at worst were on a par with his song and they failed to get anywhere near. The neighbourly voting appeared this year to send the contest to an all-time low and I couldn't blame any country for withdrawing from the contest because of it. There seems no point in sending a good song any more to the contest as it appears that it doesn't matter how good your song. The country I feel most sorry for is Sweden. This year they sent a song which was head and shoulders above most songs and they firstly have to be saved by the jury vote in semi-final 2, only to do so badly in the final.

It's about time that the big 4 countries stood up and demanded that the EBU do something about the voting. The EBU took a small step in trying to deal with it in the semi-finals, but they might well have not done anything as they left the final alone, only for it to totally destroy any respectability that the contest had. So come on the big 4!

Enough for now, but expect more blogs on Belgrade!

8 out of 10 ain't bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-21T19:41:00.003+01:00

Well I don't think so anyway!!!

With the first semi final out of the way I managed to correctly predict that

Russia
Azerbaijan
Poland
Norway
Romania
Greece
Armenia
Bosnia & Herzegovina

all would qualify.

What happened to Belgium and The Netherlands??? Well by the looks of it the viewing public didn't think them good enough to qualify!!!!!!!!!!!!! Such a shame as for me 2 of the best songs have once again been knocked out!!!

Well the big question is who will join them???

The view from Belgrade

2008-05-21T19:34:00.003+01:00

Dobro Dan!

Hello from Belgrade and from the Eurocafe, where we are typing this blog from! Wednesday of Eurovision week and what has happened so far?!

Well, the travel over from the UK to Belgrade is a story in itself! Paul and I were due to meet up in Frankfurt after taking different Lufthansa flights to Frankfurt. Paul was due to land in Frankfurt from London Heathrow 15 minutes before my Manchester flight landed. However, it seems that Heathrow's problems go further than terminal 5 and his flight was delayed just enough for him to get to the Frankfurt gate, just after they closed it. So there was little old me on the Frankfurt to Belgrade flight by myself wondering where Paul was!

After arriving in the hotel, a few hours later I was joined by Paul who looked like he was ready to go home already and was without luggage, which was still somewhere between London and Belgrade.

To cheer us all up, we have a UK TV star as one of the receptionists. Yes, Mr. Cheap as Chips, David Dickinson has given up being a TV star and is now working at the Hotel Slavija in Belgrade. Our mission, to get him to say "Cheap as chips" during our stay. Stay tuned for a photograph if we can find an occasion to take one.

As for Belgrade, impressions are mixed at the moment, especially as they don't appear to have made much of an effort in the city to encourage people to get involved in the Eurovision spirit. Most people are very welcoming and at the moment all the scare-mongering that was circulating prior to the event are just that - scare-mongering.

As for the venue, the Beograd Arena is certainly an impressive arena. From the photographs, it looks as if there is nothing around the arena, but that is very deceptive! There is nothing outside for the fans to do and nothing really inside! Once inside the arena, there is only official merchandise stalls, ad-hoc drink stalls and what I think is the usual drink stalls. No hot food is sold in the arena, but I suppose that could change for the final, but I will be amazed if it does.

We thought that Belgrade and Serbia would have been using the Eurovision as an opportunity to show what the Serbs as a nation can do and to really show that they can host well - along the lines of Helsinki last year. However, they've either forgotten about it or just can plainly not be bothered with it.

Semi Final 2..................

2008-05-14T22:50:00.003+01:00

Ok the first set of rehearsals are over now for semi final 2 and my opinion has not really changed. I still think that the following will go through to the final:-

Sweden
Iceland
Turkey
Ukraine
Switzerland
Denmark
Hungary
Malta
Portugal

However I now think that the final place will be between Georgia, Macedonia and Cyprus.

Now suprisingly enough I never really liked FYR Macedonia or Cyprus when they were first chosen however, I now think both could qualify but we shall see.

After Watching Rehearsals ........

2008-05-13T23:20:00.002+01:00

My Opinions have changed somewhat..............

The first 2 days of rehearsals saw the first semi final being rehearsed and I have to say I was pretty suprised by what I saw which now means that I think that the following will qualify:-

Norway
Azerbaijan
Russia
Greece
Armenia
Belgium
Greece
Romania
Poland
Bosnia & Herzegovina

1 week to go and we will know

13 Years ago today

2008-05-13T23:18:00.002+01:00

Saturday, 13th May 1995. Dublin, Ireland. The third year running that the contest had taken place in Ireland!

To save Ireland's TV company from going out of business, Norway won the contest instead of Ireland. With a song containing only 24 words, Secret Garden won with the song entitled "Nocturne."

The top five finishers were.....

1st - Norway - Secret Garden - Nocturne - 148 pts,
2nd - Spain - Anabelle Conde - Vuelve conmigo - 119 pts,
3rd - Sweden - Jan Johnsen - Se på mej - 100 pts,
4th - France - Nathalie Santamaria - Il me donne rendez-vous - 94 pts,
5th - Denmark - Aud Wilken - Fra Mols til Skagen - 92 pts.

8 Years ago today.....

2008-05-13T23:06:00.003+01:00

Saturday, 13th May 2000 saw the final of the Eurovision Song Contest take place in The Globen Arena, Stockholm. The contest set a record of attendance of 13,000 people, a record which would only last for one year.

The contest saw The Olsen Brothers, representing Denmark, win with 195 points, 40 points clear of 2nd place Russia.

The top five finishers were....

1st - Denmark - The Olsen Brothers - Fly On The Wings Of Love - 195 pts,
2nd - Russia - Alsou - Solo - 155 pts,
3rd - Latvia - Brainstorm - My Star - 136 pts,
4th - Estonia - Ines - Once In A Lifetime - 98 pts,
5th - Germany - Stefan Raab - Wadde Hadde dudde da - 96 pts.

7 Years Ago Today

2008-05-13T00:02:00.004+01:00

We were celebrating the first Estonian win at the Eurovision Song Contest which was the largest contest to date with 38000 in the audience held at the Parken Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Dave Benson and Tanel Pader won with the song Everybody and what a close competition it was. I still think France were robbed!!!!

Estonia won by obtaining 9 x 12 points and 4 x 10 points.

The top 3 of 2001 were:-

1 - Estonia - Dave Benson and Tanel Pader - Everybody - 198 points
2 - Denmark - Rollo & King - Never Ever Let You Go - 177 points
3 - Greece - Antique - Die For You - 147 points

1 Year Ago today

2008-05-12T23:35:00.007+01:00

Was Saturday 12 May 2007 and I was just walking out of the arena to celebrate the Serbian win at the Euroclub in Helsinki. I still cant believe that it is a year and I am 5 days away from flying to Belgrade.

A convincing first win for Serbia by Marija Serafovic and her song Motliva wining by taking 9 x 12 points and 2 x 10 points.

The top 3 in 2007 were as follows:-

1 - Serbia - Marija Serafovic - Motliva - 268 points
2 - Ukraine - Verka Serduchka - Dancing Lasha Tumbai - 235 points
3 - Russia - Serebro - Song Number 1 - 207 points

Rehearsals Have Started in Belgrade....

2008-05-11T23:40:00.002+01:00

The first set of countries from Semi Final 1 have today started their rehearsals for this years Eurovision Song Contest.

Montenegro
Israel
Estonia
Moldova
San Marino
Belgium
Azerbaijan
Slovenia
Norway

San Marino was very impressive from watching the videos and for me one of my pre contest favourites Slovenia was poor. The musical arrangement for Slovenia's entry has changed quite dramatically but unfortunately in this rehearsal I felt her vocals were poor. I also liked Azerbaijan, Israel and Norway.

Well we shall see what tomorrows rehearsals bring.

8 Days Till We Go......

2008-05-10T23:30:00.004+01:00

To Belgrade and I really am not excited about it............NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All is in order and myself and Colin will be in Belgrade from Monday 19th until Sunday 25th May, hopefully we will still be able to give some interesting views on what we think and I'm sure that our views on certain songs will change.......

I myself with 16 days to go till the final am almost totally convinced that FYR Macedonia will qualify but not sure who will forfeit their place for them.

Poland for me is now one that I think the Juries will choose rather than the televoters, but hey what do I know.

It would be nice to see Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium and Poland in the final along with the Netherlands but how will the voting public react to the songs............we will soon see.

The stage is set for the participants and their delegations to arrive and the rehearsals are due to start next week..... I wish I could have gone earlier but again I have not got enough time off from work.

Good Luck to all the participants and if your going to Belgrade let us know.

10 Years Ago Today

2008-05-09T22:58:00.005+01:00

Way May 9th 1998 and Eurovision fans across Europe were celebrating a not entirely suprising 3rd victory for Israel who were represented by the unforgettable Dana International and her song "Diva. 1998 was the first time in 16 years that the UK had played host after their victory in 1997 it as decided that the best location for this years contest was the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, and what a contest it was 4 countries held the lead at one point or another throughout the voting those being UK, Netherlands, Malta and Israel and in one of the closest battles fought Malta who were joint 1st with Israel leading in to the penultimate vote actually ended up finishing 3rd behind Israel and UK.
The Top 3 of 1998 looking like this:-

1 - Israel - Dana International - Diva - 174 Points
2 - United Kingdom - Imaani - Where Are You? - 167 points
3 - Malta - Chiara - The One That I Love - 166 points

16 Years Ago Today........

2008-05-09T22:43:00.004+01:00

Was May 9th 1992 and Eurovision fans across Europe were celebrating the 4th victory for Ireland and the 3rd for Johnny Logan.

Yes it is really 16 years since Linda Martin won in Malmo, Sweden with the song written by Johnny Logan "Why Me?" 1992 was also the first year that the Top 3 songs were sung in English with the Top 3 lloking like this:-

1 - Ireland - Linda Martin - Why Me? 155 Points
2 - United Kingdom - Michael Ball - One Step Out of Time - 139 points
3 - Malta - Mary Spiteri - Little Child - 123 points

The lead changed between Malta, UK and Ireland on a few occasions that was until Malta who voted 10th gave Ireland their 12 points and then the lead never changed at all and Ireland won taking 3 sets of top marks and 7 sets of 10 points.

21 Years Ago Today.......

2008-05-09T22:22:00.005+01:00

On the 9th May 1987, Eurovision fans around Europe were celebrating the very third victory for Ireland and Johnny Logans second triumph in 7 years

Can you believe it 21 years..it only seems like yesterday that Johnny Logan stood on that stage in Brussels and sang Hold Me Now and it was a fairly convincing win since he didnt take the lead until 7th round of voting which were given by Italy. Yugoslavia took an early lead with Novi Fosili and "Ja Sam Za Ples" then on the 6th round of voting Germanys Wind and their song "Lass Die Sonne In Dein Herz" took the lead for one round only to be overtaken by Ireland next. Irelands win was fairly convincing with them ending up taking 8 x 12 points and 3 x 10 points

The Top 3 in 1987 looked like this

1 - Ireland - Johnny Logan - Hold Me Now - 172 points
2 - Germany - Wind - Lass Die Sonne In Dein Herz - 141 points
3 - Italy - Umberto Tozzi and Raf - Gente Di Mare - 103 points

We woz robbed!

2008-05-06T23:04:00.002+01:00

Good news for UK fans for the up and coming Eurovision! It seems that with the latest revelations regarding the 1968 contest could see the Spanish in hot water with voters.

So the story? Apparently, General Franco wanted to increase the image of Spain so that tourism would continue to florish. So what was his grand plan? Why of course, win the Eurovision. The only sticking point in his plan was that the Spanish entry for that year wasn't of winning quality. So not to be outdone, they decided to rig the vote and hey presto, Spain wins.

So can Sir Cliff feel hard done to? No, not according to the French artist for that year! The one who finished below Sir Cliff, she believes that she would have won if it hadn't been for the votes being rigged. So how does she work that one out? She was third! If Spain wouldn't have rigged the votes then the UK would have won with France second.

So it will be interesting to see if there is an reaction from voters, but seeing as the Spanish entry is terrible this year, the big question is, would we notice anyway?!